The Amazing Spiderwoman
by Pandoras-Closet
Summary: Ami Mizuno's life stunk...then it got worse.
1. Life of the Party

Today's Fortune Cookie: "I steal." -Sam Giancana, explaining his livelihood to his draft board **************  
  
"In any social situation, it helps to have a sense of humor...of course, it also helps to be the one buying the drinks. Therefore, a great deal of cash is necessary." -B. Oliver Sommer, Becoming the Life Of The Party In Five Easy Steps.  
  
Ami Mizuno closed the book and stared at the cover. "But what if I don't have a great deal of cash?" Ami was just under five feet six inches and her slender build made her seem even taller. Her dark hair was cut short and her large blue eyes appeared even larger behind her wire-rimmed reading glasses.  
  
"Then you rob a bank?" asked the girl sitting across the lunch table from . Blonde, hyperactive, and possibly mad, Usagi Tsukino was the richest girl at Juuban Academy. Willowy rather then slender, she appeared to be taller then Ami, the odangoes on her head adding to the illusion. Usagi, as the saying went, was a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. Her father headed up one of the largest technology cartels in the world. Himself a highly regarded aerospace engineer, Kenji Tsukino was a philanthropist of huge proportions and donated generously to Juuban. Other then that, his contact with Usagi and her younger brother Shingo was minimal.  
  
With such a background, Usagi should be a prim and proper young lady, perhaps on the quiet side. What she had become instead was a jokester. Armed with a quip for every occasion, and a knack for improvisation, Usagi and her sidekick/cousin Naru Okasa had left behind a trail of pranks, jokes, and shaken heads through the hallowed halls of various educational institutions. Toilets that melted, showers spewing food coloring, animals turned loose in halls and trucks left on top of flagpoles were only some of their feats. Protected by Usagi's family name, they were immune to the wrath of the school administrators, who could only pray each year that the two girls had somehow matured.  
  
Intimidated by Usagi's wealth and their sense of humor, the duo had few friends. Would be syphochants who tried to mooch off of Usagi's status and money were spotted within seconds. Ami, unitiminated by both their wealth and humor and soon found herself in their orbit and...Ami felt a frown cross her face. Where was Naru anyway?  
  
Almost in answer, there was a scream from the museum cafeteria's kitchen, the yowl of a cat and the barking of a dog followed by the clanging of metal on linoleum. How had they...  
  
Almost as though she was reading Ami's thoughts, Usagi grinned. "You'd be amazed how blind the bus drivers are when they find a hundred thousand yen note in their pocket," she called over the stampede of students as most of them rushed to see what the noise was all about.  
  
Ami opened her mouth to reply when something warm, mushy, and wet smacked her in the back of the head. Followed by a loud, almost braying laughter. Turning her head to look, Ami saw a tall, amazonian brunette standing at a nearby table. Her green eyes were narrowed, and she was holding another meatball in her hand.  
  
"Don't you dare, Flash!" Usagi snapped, standing up, hands planted on the table.  
  
"Me? I'm just keeping in practice." Very few people called Makoto Kino by her given name. Pitcher on the softball team, Co-captain of the Karate club, and star of the women's hockey team, she had picked up the nickname for her lightning fast speed on the ice. Since she had been on the team, Juuban hadn't lost a game.  
  
"Put it down," Usagi shot back. Flash simply smirked and was about to take aim when a tall, sinuous looking redhead sitting at a nearby table loudly cleared her throat. Flash stared at the redhead for a moment. Something silent seemed to pass between them and then Flash dropped the meatball to the floor and walked away. "That was odd," Usagi said thoughtfully. "I wonder why 'her highness' stopped Flash?"  
  
"Beryl's not a queen, Usagi," Ami said, said, using napkins to get as much tomato sauce out of her hair as she could.  
  
"Well she certainly acts like it," Usagi snarled, all traces of her normally cheerful self gone. "'Look at me, my daddy's the principal and superintendent. I can have you expelled because I don't like your haircut. Bow down and worship me.' Bitch." Ami hid a smile. The origins of the Usagi- Beryl feud had been lost to time, and hostilities had more or less stagnated. At least on Beryl's end. Usagi was apparently more then willing to keep it going.  
  
"Okay, people," Miss Haruna called as she entered the cafeteria. "Form back up into your groups and proceed to the Tsukino Room for the next exhibit." She clapped her hands together sharply. "Pop, pop, people!"  
  
**** The disc was perhaps three inches wide and made of a sort of beige colored stone. Small characters encircled a beautifully detailed painting of a red and blue spider as seen from above against a background of stars. Ami ran her fingers over the face, admiring how well preserved it was. The label said that it was found in South America near a lone pyramid, apparently part of the mural adorning the side, though the stone seemed to be of different quality then the rest of the pyramid. Most of that had been ravaged by time, but this piece had somehow survived.  
  
Ami nodded to herself, already compiling the words for her essay in her mind when she got a jolt of static electricity and then something slammed into her from behind, shoving her into the case sending it falling over. There was a sharp pain in her hand and then she hit the floor, a sensation followed shortly by the plexiglass display stand smacking her in the back of the head.  
  
**** Ami lived with her aunt Mai. Often described as tall and formidable, Mai Mizuno was one of Tokyo's top matchmakers and event planners. She was also a stickler for tradition and her expression was disapproving as she followed her niece up the stairs to her room.  
  
"How many times have I told you," Mai said as Ami changed to her nightgown. "A young lady is the epitome of grace, aware of everything going on and then you..."  
  
"I was pushed, Aunt Mai," Ami said, rubbing her head where the Plexiglass had struck her. There was no concussion, but Ami nonetheless had a splitting headache.  
  
"That's barely an excuse," Mai replied, pulling the covers up to Ami's chin. "Your mother, rest her soul..." The older woman sighed. "You need to be more careful, Ami, I don't want to see anything happen to you."  
  
"Yes, Aunt Mai."  
  
"Good. Now sleep well, and we'll talk in the morning." With that, Mai left, turning off the light as she did so.  
  
**** She dreamed...  
  
Of crystal palaces in cities of the same, of peaceful people, of friends and of queens.  
  
Of dark forces and destruction.  
  
Of a queen garbed in crystal white, scepter in hand, standing on a high pillar under the full moon. Surrounding her, each on a pillar of their own, eight other warriors, more then friends, they were sisters. There was a place for her in that circle and her heart reached for it, wanting it, needing it.  
  
She walked through cities of stone and ice, soared above domed cities that hovered over seas of gas, and stood before massive gates that opened onto eternity.  
  
And she dreamed of spiders. Hundreds of them, all shapes and sizes, circling her, waving their forelegs at her as though in welcome.  
  
She dreamed of a red and blue one that seized her, covering her in webbing, and then of a woman in blue, her face in shadow trying to free her, of fighting the spider, then suddenly, the woman and spider stopped...  
  
As one, they lunged at her.  
  
The alarm blared.  
  
Ami sat bolt upright in bed, blinking against the light streaming in from her curtains, breathing heavily, and then noticed the smell.  
  
Her nightgown and bedding were sweat soaked, leaving behind an odor that reminded her vaguely of the locker room. Pushing the fading echoes of the dream away, she fingered the spot where the stand had hit her head. There was no tenderness, only the dampness of her sweat-matted hair. Shaking her head, she stripped her bed, put the sheets and her nightgown into the laundry basket and walked towards her dresser, passing the full length mirror in the corner.  
  
She froze and then with slow, deliberate steps, walked back and stared.  
  
That was her face, but not her body. The young lady in the mirror was slender but it was an athlete's slenderness. Her arms and legs were toned, her stomach was flat, with just a hint of definition, and her chest...she turned sideways...she had definitely...well...she had filled out a little bit. Not that it was a bad thing, actually, she looked pretty good. She did a little strut. She could actually give Beryl a run for her money in the looks department and--  
  
What was she thinking? Somehow she had undergone some bizarre meatamorphis overnight. If this ever got out...Turning away from the mirror, she donned her robe, gathered her bathing things and marched down the hall to bathe.  
  
By the time she sat down to breakfast, she had almost convinced herself that the episode in front of the mirror hadn't happened. Especially since her school uniform hid the changes quite well. The problem was is that she was keenly aware that she had changed. Her entire body felt like a well oiled machine and she knew she had a poise that wasn't there before. Fortunutly, Aunt Mai, too asorbed in her own schedule, didn't notice, and at precisely eight thirty, Ami left for school.  
  
It happened on a side street lined with the high walls of wealthy citizens who could afford the land needed for lavish gardens. Despite her vow not to think about it, she found herself trying to puzzle out her transformation and as such, failed to pay attention to the world around her. Therefore, when she came to Blossom Road, she neglected to check for cars.  
  
It happened without warning, a single word, both command and instruction on how to do so burned across her brain like a neon sign. "JUMP!"  
  
Entirely on instinct, Ami jumped up and back landing on the top of the wall in a handstand and then followed through, landing on the other side in a crouch. The roar of the car she had just avoided fade in the distance, the driver apparently not even noticing, or caring, that they had just missed a count of vehicular manslaughter.  
  
For a moment, she stayed like that and then realized what she had done. As one part of her brain began gibbering in terror, another part calmly noted that her breathing had not changed, nor had her heart rate. Furthermore, she hadn't even felt the impact of landing. It was as though her body had accepted the change and was patiently waiting for the rest of her to catch up.  
  
It took her several minutes to calm down before she could think clearly. Somehow, she had just managed to defy the laws of physics by performing an acrobatic feat that was beyond the limits of natural human ability. Letting her bag fall to the ground, she grabbed her head in her hands, trying to fight off a surge of panic. Not only had she changed physically, but she had somehow acquired freakish abilities and--she took her hands from her head and stared at them, remembering the sharp pain in her hand right before she had been shoved. The stone tablet, the one with the spider, was it possible that it had somehow conferred the abilities of a spider upon her, abilities proportionate to her size? That she had become a human spider? But did that mean she had--but almost immediately, that thought was followed by the certainty that she had no spinnerets. Anywhere.  
  
Another minor surge of panic rose up and she began massaging her temples, her watch reflecting the sunlight--her watch? She stared at it, the LCD face informing her she had three minutes to get to school. She made a noise in her throat. There was no way she could get there in time.  
  
No, there was way.  
  
But what if she was seen--she was faster then that. How did she know that? Did it matter?  
  
Ami glanced at her watch again. Two minutes and forty-five seconds remaining. She had a vision of trying to explain why she was late and then realized that she had already decided.  
  
**** It took her a minute and thirty seconds of flat out running. Fortunately, her route to school caused her to initially approach Juuban Academy from the side. It was not a route that saw a lot of traffic. Without thinking about it, she sprang onto the wall and was about to drop to the other side when the same instinct/warning instead sent her into the tree growing just on the other side, the leaves barely rustling as she, sure-footed as a cat and quieter then a mouse, went through them and came to a stop on one of the larger branches.  
  
"Hey. You hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?"  
  
Ami held her breath. It was Flash and Nico, one of the four guys who hung around with Beryl. She peered down through the leaves. Flash and Nico, both wearing just enough for modesty, sat side by side, sharing a cigarette. Nico was even taller then Flash, who was one of the tallest people at Juuban. His hair was a thick brown mass and his body was lean and hard. He captained the soccer team. He hadn't joined Flash when she picked on Ami, but he hadn't tried to stop Flash either.  
  
"I thought I heard something moving in the tree." Flash stared up into the tree, green eyes narrowed in suspicion. Ami eased back, praying that they would leave. A stray thought flickered through her mind that she should have brought her camera. A photo of Flash and Nico as they currently were circulated through the school and the humiliation it would cause Flash would more then make up for the bullying. Just as quickly, she clamped down on that thought. The last thing a proper Japanese young lady did was blackmail someone.  
  
They don't cover a mile in under two minutes or leap over ten foot walls in a single bound either, came the thought.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous. The only way anyone could get into the tree without us seeing them come near is over the wall and we'd have heard them doing so."  
  
"Yeah, I...shit, look at the time. We'd better get dressed. Last thing we want is to get caught by some snoopy teacher. Haruna's been riding my ass since Mizuno knocked over that pedestal yesterday."  
  
"Only because you pushed her."  
  
"You defending her or something?"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous. It just seems ridiculous and a waste of time to keep picking on someone who's never done anything to you."  
  
"Yeah, well its my time to waste, isn't it?"  
  
"I suppose so."  
  
"Damn right." Their voices faded as they moved out of the bushes.  
  
Swallowing hard, Ami dropped from the tree and took a moment to straighten her uniform and then left the clearing. But as she did so, she couldn't help but look back at the wall. There was great power in what she was capable of now, she could feel it. Everything could change for the better.  
  
Unbidden, she thought of using her abilities to beat Flash into pancake batter and then that was wiped away by a surge of horror that she was even thinking such things. 'I didn't ask for this, I don't want this, and I don't accept this. I'd sooner go through life bullied then be the freak I've become.'  
  
With that, she left the bushes and headed for the building. But as she did, she could've sworn that she thought she heard a voice whisper. "Don't be so sure about that."  
  
**** In Homeroom, the teacher entered with a tall young man. He had blond hair that fell almost to his shoulders and warm blue eyes. Ami, who normally did not think about such things, could not help but notice that he was very, very, cute.  
  
"Class, I'd like you to meet Gendo Shinohara," the teacher said. "He's transferred here from Furikan in Nerima and I'm sure you'll all do your best to make him feel welcome." He consulted the seating chart. "Why don't you sit over there by Mizuno?" He pointed at Ami. The blonde just behind her is Usagi Tsukino, your homeroom president, so see her for any questions you may have."  
  
"Yes, sir," Shinohara replied and made his way to the indicated seat.  
  
"Hello," Ami said politely as he sat down.  
  
He stared at her for a moment and then seem to give himself a mental shake. "Um, hello." His voice was very soft and she had to almost strain to hear it. He seemed to be about to say more, but the teacher clapped his hands for attention and class was underway.  
  
As they were leaving class Shinohara touched Ami's arm.  
  
"I apologize for being so forward, but are you the same Ami Mizuno who took third in the Prefecture Chess Championship two years ago?"  
  
Ami stared at him. Chess, as Usagi had once remarked, was the closest thing Ami had to a hobby. In fact, fanatic was far to weak a term to describe Ami's passion for the game. She would never go pro, but she was president of the school chess club. In fact, she was the only member of the chess club. "Yes," she replied, "I--you play chess?"  
  
Shinohara bowed his head. "I would be honored if you would allow me the honor of playing against you some time."  
  
"I--" Ami broke off as she suddenly experienced a feeling of danger approaching behind her.  
  
"Well lookee here, Mizuno's got a boyfriend," sneered a voice. "Go on, geek, give your honeybunch a kiss." Ami felt her shoulders sag and turned to see Flash with several of her fellow players. "Well, go on, Mizuno, kiss him." Ami didn't move and the sensation of danger increased, and then abruptly cut off.  
  
"Is there a reason you're not heading for your next class, Miss Kino?" Miss Haruna stepped through the crowd and crossed her arms, staring Flash in the eyes.  
  
"Just going over some plays," Flash said easily.  
  
"You go over plays in practice. Not in the hallway. Now move along before I start handing out demerits." Hard eyes swept over the students. "You think I mean just her? Move it!"  
  
The hall emptied quickly.  
  
**** "He's cute," Usagi said as they sat down in math.  
  
"Yes, he is--who?"  
  
"Shinohara." Usagi leaned on Ami's desk. "You like him, don't you?" The blonde grinned. "You do! I can see it in your eyes." Usagi perched on Ami's desk. "So where you going for your first date?" she teased.  
  
"Shinohara?" A nasal voice asked. "The new transfer from Furikan?"  
  
The grin vanished from Usagi's face as though it had been wiped away with a rag. "Beat it, Umino."  
  
"But don't you want to know about him?" A short, skinny brown haired boy stepped up next to Ami's desk, a pocket computer in his hand. "Straight A student, member of the Kendo club at Furikan, and served as treasuer for the chess club. He's fifteen years of age and his father just took command of the local Koban."  
  
"Koban? His dad's a cop?"  
  
Umino nodded. "Captain Hikaru Shinohara. Decorated twice for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. Rumor has it Shinohara intends to follow in his father's footsteps."  
  
Usagi seemed about to say more, but the teacher walked in and everyone took their seats.  
  
**** By the time lunch rolled around, Ami was ravenously hungry and filled her tray while somehow ignoring the raised eyebrow from the cafeteria worker. Ami normally ate very little and was puzzled by her appetite until she realized that she had an increased metabolism now. 'One more sign that I'm a freak,' she thought bitterly as she paid and went to find a seat.  
  
Upon reaching an empty section of table, she sat down, took out her biology textbook and class syllabus. The next chapter would be on...spiders? 'How Arapos,' she thought bitterly.  
  
"May I join you?" Ami looked up to see Shinohara standing on the other side of the table.  
  
"Certainly," Ami replied politely, setting aside her book. Shinohara smiled and sat down across from her before removing a bento box from his bag. For a while they ate in silence until Shinohara seemed to steel himself and take a deep breath. "Miss Ami, I have two tickets to the Harry Potter premiere this weekend and I was would be honored if you would accompany me." He spoke very quickly, as though he if he didn't, the world might implode.  
  
Ami stared at him. Was he asking her on a--  
  
"Of course she would," Usagi said, sliding onto the bench next to Shinohara. "Wouldn't you, Ami?" Ami started to say that she didn't even like Harry Potter but Usagi didn't give her a chance. "Great! It's settled." She wrapped an arm around Shinohara's shoulders and stared into his eyes. "You'll pick her up at seven. Be sure you wear something nice, try something funny and I'll kill you, she likes flowers, and you should bring your own candy, the prices at the Grand are murder." She handed him a few bills. "Popcorn and soda are on me. I'll leave the details to the two of you. Bye." And then she was gone.  
  
**** The day of the premiere, Usagi showed up at five armed with a makeup kit that seemed to be the size of a small car and plenty of advice. Not giving her friend any chance to speak, Usagi went to work. After making Ami take a shower, Usagi planted her in front of a mirror and went to work on Ami's hair, speaking in her usual rapid fire manner about anything and everything. And then, while Ami was trying to figure out what was different about her hair. Usagi dove into her closet, speaking half to herself, half to Ami. "No, no. Red? Won't work. Maybe you should wear a tie." And so forth.  
  
Ami's taste in clothes ran to the practical. Almost all her clothes were of solid colors, mostly blue, with gray, pink, white, and a few other colors here and there. There was no logos, no identifying marks of any kind.  
  
After selecting a plain white blouse, blue sweater and dark gray skirt, she once more planted Ami in a chair and got out the makeup. For the next ten minutes, she patted, brushed, and painted before finally holding up a mirror. Ami looked and saw...herself, exactly as she had always been.  
  
"What did you do? I don't see anything different."  
  
"You're not supposed to," Usagi said with a grin and packed up her case before dashing out the door.  
  
Shinohara arrived fifteen minutes later, exactly at seven dressed in a white shirt and dark blue blazer and pants. Aunt Mai seemed to be pleased at his good manners and wished them both a good time. That in itself seemed odd as Ami was sure Aunt Mai would give him the third degree. Especially since she didn't know him. But instead, she sent them off with a smile and a wave.  
  
"You look beautiful, Miss Ami" he said to her as they neared the theater.  
  
"Thank you," Ami said. "But please, call me Ami."  
  
"As you wish." He was silent for a moment. "Have you ever been to the chessimaniacs web site?"  
  
"Yes," Ami replied. "In fact, I'm a moderator in the forum. Why?"  
  
"Ah, then perhaps you could explain the checkmate in five moves example game posted last week. It was quite elegant, but I'm afraid I fail to see the need for the Black King's Side Rook." Ami blushed. "I'm sorry, was it something I said?"  
  
"No, it's just that nobody's ever called one of my games elegant before. Thank you." He inclined his head in acknowledgment. Ami held her hand, palm up and planted the forefinger of her other hand approximately where the white king would be if she was playing black. "The reason you need the King's Side Rook..."  
  
**** By sheer luck, they managed to get center seats and had just sat down, when Usagi's head appeared between them and the head of Naru appeared on the other side of Shinohara, their sudden appearance causing them to almost drop the popcorn and soda.  
  
"Comfy?" Usagi asked, grinning madly.  
  
"Yes...Usagi, what are you doing here?" Ami asked.  
  
"Chaperoning, silly. Promised your aunt."  
  
'Which explains why she let us go so easily,' Ami thought.  
  
"Having fun?" Naru asked, grinning just as madly as Usagi.  
  
"Yes," Shinohara replied. "Miss..."  
  
"Naru Okasa. But you can call me All Powerful Mistress of all that somebody else pays taxes on."  
  
"Don't mind Naru," Usagi said in a conspiratorial stage whisper. "She thinks she's funny."  
  
"I do not think I'm funny," Naru said and assumed a snobbish expression. "I'm friggin hilarious."  
  
"You're friggin something anyway," Usagi said.  
  
"Bite me!"  
  
"Later, sweetie," Usagi said with a straight face and then rested her elbows on Shinohara and Ami's heads. "Now considering this is a first date, I'm willing to overlook hand holding or arms around shoulders. But..." She leaned closer to Shinohara. "If that hand of yours even thinks about going even a millimeter below the armrest on her side..."  
  
"Something Not Nice will happen," Naru said.  
  
"Bad, icky, something," Usagi said, nodding solemnly. "The race of hyperintelligent cockroaches that will succeed humanity as the planet's dominant lifeform will look back at those things and decide that death by the Great Foot In The Sky was not that bad in comparison."  
  
"Even Tom Green will cringe in horror."  
  
"Right." Usagi turned her head to stare at Naru. "Who the hell is Tom Green?"  
  
"Who cares?"  
  
"Good point." Usagi swiped a handful of popcorn from the bag in Ami's hand as the lights began to dim. "Have fun, lovebirds."  
  
"She didn't mean any of it," Ami whispered. " She doesn't even like stepping on ants. She's just..."  
  
"Completely and utterly mad?" Shinohara suggested with a slight smile. After a moment, Ami smiled back.  
  
At some point during the movie, his hand joined hers and Ami found that it felt quite nice.  
  
**** "I had a nice time," Ami said as Shinohara walked her to her front door. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome, Mi--Ami." Hesitantly, he leaned forward and brushed his lips across her cheek before heading back down the walk. Ami watched him go before heading into the house and up to her room.  
  
She had just removed her sweater when the phone rang. Ami had her own line. Her aunt had installed it when Ami turned thirteen, believing that Ami would, like others her age, spend hours on the phone, and Mai didn't want the house line tied up as she depended on it for her livelihood. Ami had yet to use her line for the hours Aunt Mai had thought, but it was nice to have.  
  
"Hello?" she said, picking it up.  
  
"Well? How was it?" Usagi asked.  
  
"Usagi, you were there."  
  
"Yeah, but see, this is the other part of dating. You and your best friend spend an hour or so going over the date in minute detail afterwards. So give."  
  
*** As the days turned to weeks, Ami managed to more or less to avoid using her powers with the exception of the strange instinct that seemed to be triggered by any threat. It made avoiding Flash easier, but it made it very difficult to forget about what else had come with it. At least those she could hide by not using them. But she couldn't hide everything. A great deal of her physical appearance changed. She gained at least two inches of height, and was forced to buy new clothes. Fortunutly, Aunt Mai assumed it was a growth spurt and paid the whole thing little mind. She did however, notice when Ami stopped needing glasses. The optometrist assured her, however that while rare, eyes sometimes "fixed" themselves. The human body was an amazing thing and sometimes things happened inexplicably. He advised them to keep the glasses handy for a few months, but not to worry about it. Ami went out and bought a pair of stage glasses anyway, which she wore around school.  
  
Within a month after the incident, Ami was three inches taller, her body lean and lithe with curves that were out of a manga. It was an acrobat's body, supple and quick to restore itself. It wasn't until she broke the record for rope climbing, pulling herself up by main strength alone that she realized how strong she had become. In private, she used eggs and balloons to learn how to control it.  
  
And all the while, strange instincts and feelings that came to her at random. Almost like voices, teaching, instructing, whispering. Ami tried to ignore them, and concentrated on keeping her metamorphis a secret.  
  
But with the beginning of winter came swimming in the school's heated indoor pool. The school mandated one piece swimsuits, though they covered a great deal, did not hide curves very well and Ami somehow managed to keep a stoic expression as she walked across the deck to the pool edge. The girls were staring at her with sheer jealousy and hate, the boys with intense interest and Beryl...The senior's eyes were speculative, assessing. Something kept Ami from meeting that gaze and instead pushed her towards the pool edge.  
  
At that moment, Mio Sasazi, the hockey coach came in and Ami felt the older woman's eyes studying her. Judging.  
  
No good, she knew, could come of it.  
  
And she was right.  
  
"I'm what?" Ami asked incredulously. She stood in the entrance to the girl's locker room, blue eyes locked on Sasazi.  
  
"On the Women's hockey team. As of today." Sasazi said flatly. "Practice starts at four-thirty sharp on Saturday."  
  
"I, I...you can't arbitrarily put me on the team."  
  
"I just did. Look, Mizuno, I've been watching you for a while now. You're one of the fastest swimmers here and yet you've avoided joining the team. You could have more then enough credits to graduate right now, but the sports requirement hasn't yet been fulfilled. Which is odd, considering you've obviously been working out."  
  
In the back of her mind, Ami could almost hear Usagi. "The stone tablet workout. No fuss, no muss, Just freakish superpowers. Yours for nineteen ninety-five plus the jealousy of your peers. Call today."  
  
"I don't like sports," Ami said, beginning to get angry with the coach. "They're barbaric, noisy and messy. Nor is it the school's bisinuess what I do with my free time. I'm sorry, Miss Sasazi, but I must request that you remove me from the team or else I shall be forced to speak with the principal about this...aberration of my choices."  
  
"He's already approved it." Sasazi said quietly and then took a deep breath. "We need you, Mizuno. You're built for speed and we need that right now. We're barely managing to hang on to our unbroken victory record. Kino's losing her touch, we need someone with speed and I think you're it. You'll be a fill-in, spend most of the time on the bench. But if I have to pull Kino off the ice, you'll step in. The season is about to start. Stick it out and you will never have to set foot on the athletic field again. Here, or in high school. That's the deal. You play for us, one season, and the superintendent will waive the phys ed and sports requirement at whatever high school you attend. What do you say?"  
  
**** "You said yes?" For once, Usagi seemed to be without a quip. "Are you insane?" She asked. Naru just nodded.  
  
"I don't know," Ami replied. "It's just that...no more phys ed."  
  
"Ami," Shinohara said, laying his hand on her arm. "Hockey is a very dangerous sport. Is staying away from the gymnasium really that important to you?"  
  
Ami winced. They had been dating exclusively for nearly a month now and if he had one fault, it was that he tended to take everything personally. Such as the notion that Ami's desire to avoid the gym also meant she wished to avoid him. Considering she had attended every one of his matches, spent most of her free time in his company and had even kissed him, the notion that she wished to avoid him was ludicrous at best.  
  
"Oh relax, Shinne," Usagi said. "Considering what she wrote in her diary, avoiding you is the last thing on her mind."  
  
"Diary?" Shinohara asked.  
  
"I don't keep a diary," Ami replied.  
  
"Sure you do," Usagi replied as she and Naru's expressions became identical mad grins. "Dear Diary."  
  
"Gendo Shinohara is so yummy," Naru picked up.  
  
"He's everything I could want in a man."  
  
"Smart, funny, and one hell of a kisser."  
  
"He has no bad points."  
  
"And I eagerly look forward to the day when I can tie him to my bed and eat an ice cream sundae off his bare chest."  
  
"Best wishes, Ami Mizuno."  
  
Shinohara stared at them for a moment and then looked at Ami. In unison, they picked up their bento boxes and began eating with all the dignity they could muster.  
  
Usagi and Naru collapsed in helpless laughter. 


	2. From the Ashes

Today's Fortune Cookie: "You know, at 72 pixels and in capital letters, fish looks like its mispelled." -Me  
  
Shinohara made a face as he studied the paper. Sailor Moon this, Sailor Moon that. All anyone ever wanted to talk about was the mysterious woman who had seen fit to take the law into her own hands. Even his father couldn't stop talking about her. Though that may have been because of pressure from his superiors on all koban to find and arrest the vigilante. He stared across the ice rink at the far wall. Ami was having her first practice today with the hockey team and he had showed up to support her. He glared down at the paper and scowled as he wondered who Sailor Moon was and what made her do what she did.  
  
"Hiya, Shinnie," Usagi said, sitting on the bench next to him. On the other side, he felt someone else sit down and not unexpectedly, it was Naru. Shinohara hid the reactive frown that seemed to come up whenever they were around. Both girls wore identical mad grins and that meant that they were up to something. He steeled himself. He was not going to let them talk him into doing something idiotic.  
  
"Say, Shinnie," Naru began.  
  
"No," Shinohara said flatly.  
  
"But--" Usagi tried to say only to stop as Shinohara raised his hand in a gesture for silence.  
  
"No, Miss Usagi," he said, speaking very clearly and enunciating each word. "The last time Miss Naru began a sentence with the words 'say, Shinnie', I wound up spending forty-five minutes in a subway station, dressed in women's clothing and fending off the amourous advances of an American Marine. Apologies, but my answer is no."  
  
"But you looked so keyoute," Usagi said, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.  
  
"And Ami seemed to like the pictures we showed her," Naru said.  
  
"Pictures?" Shinohara yelped and then gave a mental grimace. 'Idiot,' he berated himself. 'Now they smell blood.' He steeled himself. 'No matter what they say, I will not react. I am like ice. My will is like iron. I am emotionless. I. Will. Not. React.' Silently repeating that mantra to himself, Shinohara focused on his paper again.  
  
"Yep." Usagi sounded thoughtful. "She keeps this safe in the bathroom under the sink. Last place anyone would look, right? Anyway, she looked at the pictures and then dashed into the bathroom to put the pictures away where no one else could see them. She must have stubbed her toe or something though, cause when we listened at the door, we heard her moaning. I guess she wanted you there to kiss it and make it better, cause she kept calling out your name."  
  
The paper in Shinohara's hands tore lengthwise down the middle.  
  
"Well done, Miss Tsukino," Naru said, reaching past Shinohara to shake Usagi's hand.  
  
"Thank you, Miss Osaka," Usagi replied. "One of my more inspired bits, I felt."  
  
"Genius, pure genius." Naru clapped her hands together and then looked at the ice as several girls dressed in their uniforms but without their helmets, and carrying hockey sticks skated out onto the ice and formed into a loose line. Following them came Flash dressed in green sweats, a green baseball cap turned backwards and her hair tied back with a green band. Even her ice skates were green. Under one arm, she carried a cardboard box.   
  
Without any effort whatsoever, Flash came to a stop and faced the line, looking almost like a drill sergeant and her eyes were cold as they swept over the group. "Listen up," she snarled. "With Shidou out sick, I'm team captain, which makes teaching you lot the fine art of hockey my responsibility. She pushed backwards a bit and gestured for them to look around. "See this? This room, this whole building. All of it is a separate world. In here, you are part of a team and any feelings you may have towards your teammates, hostile or otherwise don't exist here. In here, we are one living, breathing entity with one purpose. To kick some ass." She moved back to her original position. "Now even though you are backup for us regulars, you still need to be able to play just as we do. But since I doubt most of you have even been on ice skates before, we'll start with the basics." She reached into the box and took out a black plastic disc. "This is the puck, your enemy and your friend." She skated forward and handed a puck to each girl. "I say your friend, because putting into the other team's goal is our goal. It's also your enemy because keeping it out of our goal is our purpose." She let the box fall to the floor. "So, let's see what you got. Do laps around the ice until I tell you to stop. Go as fast as you feel comfortable. Use your stick to guide the puck as you do."  
  
It quickly became easy to tell who had skated before and who hadn't. Those who hadn't, took slow mincing steps, most of their attention on keeping the puck under control. At one point, Flash skated over to the two worst of the bunch and took their hockey sticks from them. Then she grabbed their arms and guided them out to the middle of the rink, where she began to guide them through the motions of skating until they were comfortable on their own.   
  
Ami, on the other hand, apparently needed no help. She glided off with an almost detached grace, as though it was second nature to her. She didn't move very fast, but there was no mistaking her skill. Shinohara frowned. He had always been good at reading body language, and Ami was holding herself back, and in a big way.  
  
"Odd," Usagi said thoughtfully and Shinohara looked at her. Usagi's blue eyes were narrowed and focused on Ami, following her around the rink. There was none of her usual playfulness about her, and she radiated cold calculation.  
  
"What's odd?" Shinohara asked. His stomach was a very tight knot. There were rumors that Ami had been using steroids, which was why she had an athlete's body when it was a well-known fact that the only exercise she ever got was walking to and from school, her cram school, the library, and on occasion, ScienceWorld (One stop shopping scientific equipment and material supply).  
  
"Ami. She skates like she was born doing it."  
  
"Natural ability, perhaps?" He suggested, but it sounded hollow, even to him. Usagi, he knew, had been ignoring the rumors, but he could see that she was reconsidering, thinking.  
  
"I've known Ami for years," Usagi said. "She thinks it's embarrassing, but she has a huge inner ear problem, messes up her sense of balance. She can walk and run, but that's about it." She tapped a finger on her knee. "Come to think of it, she's been acting odd since that bump on the head. She eats more, walks different, just seems more...I dunno, aware." She whirled on Shinohara. "You knocked her up, didn't you?"  
  
"What? No!"  
  
"I know." The mad grin returned and she rubbed her hands together briskly. "The fact remains, minions, is that Ami has a secret, and as her friends, it is our sacred duty, right, and mission to...Shinohara?"  
  
"Keep our mouths shut knowing she'll tell us when she's ready?" Shinohara asked, resigning himself to the fact that by asking, he was leaving himself open.  
  
No. Weasel it out of her." The mad grin took on an air of hungry anticipation. "This is going to be fun." Shinohara simply nodded, even as he offered up a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening that he didn't wind up wearing say...a dog suit.  
  
****  
  
After practice, the quartet went to Ami's house so that she could drop off her gear before they would, in Usagi's words "Descend on the Crown Cafe for an afternoon of frozen goodness orgies."  
  
But as they approached the house, Ami suddenly froze.  
  
"What's wrong?" Naru asked.  
  
"Grandfather's here," Ami said, pointing at a large, dark blue car. "He's supposed to be in New York."  
  
"Cool," Usagi said and dug in her pocket. "I wanna see if he'll buy these pictures of Sailor Moon." She held up a floppy disk in a plastic case.  
  
"But you already have more money then most Hollywood celebrities," Naru said. "Why would you want more?"  
  
"Ah, Naru, me lass," Usagi said, looking wise. "If you have to ask, you'll get an answer." She grabbed Ami's arm. "C'mon."  
  
****  
  
When they entered the house, they found Aunt Mai and an American man at the table, talking quietly.  
  
The man was tall and powerfully built with short, dark gray hair in a crew cut and a small square mustache. An unlit cigar was in his mouth and his eyes were sharp, missing nothing. He wore a dark gray polo shirt and matching slacks.  
  
"Hello, Grandfather," Ami said bowing.  
  
"Hello, Mister Jameson," Usagi and Naru said in unison.  
  
"Hello, Sir," Shinohara said softly.  
  
"There's no need for this 'Sir' business, my boy. The name's Jameson--J. Jonah Jameson." He spoke Japanese with a heavy accent.  
  
"Gendo Shinohara."  
  
"Shinohara...so you're the young man who's caught my granddaughter's eye." He let out a chuckle. "Mai's spoken quite highly of you."  
  
"Thank you, Mister Jameson."  
  
"Ami, why don't you, Tsukino, and Okasa go and put away that bag you're carrying." He looked at Shinohara. "Sit down, Boy." The words were those of an invitation, but the tone had all the crispness of an order.  
  
The three girls left the room, Usagi pausing to leave a tape recorder just inside the next room.  
  
"What did you do that for?" Ami asked.  
  
"Your grandpa's gonna give Shinnie the third degree, silly. You think I'm going to miss that?"  
  
Ami sighed. Grandfather Jameson had been with the American Navy during the Korean War. After a medical injury had sidelined him, he had gone into Journalism. His first wife had left him soon after the birth of their son, unable to deal with his obsession with journalistic integrity. Heartsick, he had gone to Japan on assignment, and fallen into the arms of a pretty secretary at the Tokyo Bugle. Jameson chose to stay in Tokyo with his new bride and went to work for the Bugle. He was loud, brash, indomitable, scrupulously honest and unforgiving of screw-ups. The Japanese people loved him and his weekly editorials(rants) were one of the most frequently read. Even after Ami's father had been born, Jameson continued in his ways, speaking his mind on politics and society, his foreign birth allowing him to get away with saying things that many thought, but didn't want to speak.  
  
Now the Bugle's publisher, Jameson frequently traveled back and forth between Japan and America to attend to the Bugle's New York counterpart, which he also owned and had named, "The Daily Bugle", as well as see his family. Ami really didn't know much about that side of the family. Her uncle John was a test pilot with the American Space Agency and would send her NASA memorabilia, and she occasionally exchanged E-mails with her cousin Mattie. But she had never met either one of them. To do so would mean flying and--she was trapped, the darkness pressing in on her, getting harder to breathe--Ami pushed the memories down and looked at Usagi.  
  
"No," she said. "You wouldn't."  
  
****  
  
Shinohara finally knocked on the door almost an hour later. He was slightly pale and looked sick. "He grilled me. I felt like I was on trial." He sank to the floor. "Then he said he liked me, gave me ten thousand yen and told me to buy Ami as much ice cream as she could eat."  
  
"You're going to need more then ten thousand yen," Usagi quipped. "Have you seen Ami's lunches?"  
  
"I don't eat that much," Ami protested.  
  
"Ha! This from the woman who packs away three beef bowls, two rounds of miso soup, and a full bento box daily." Usagi put her arm around Ami's shoulders. "And with all that, you're still built like an anime girl. Not an ounce of fat on ya. So what's your secret? Herbs and veggies?"  
  
"Masochistic exercise program?" Naru chimed in without looking up from the magazine she was reading.  
  
"Marathon sex sessions with Shinnie?" Ami and Shinohara both blushed furiously. "Ah-Ha!" Usagi said triumphantly. "So Ami, how big is he? Thirteen, fourteen, twenty centimeters?"  
  
"I...no...but..." Ami stammered.  
  
"We're not intimate," Shinohara said frostily.  
  
"Then why are both of you red enough that you could stop traffic?"  
  
"Because I...because I have had enough of your childish and immature behavior," Shinohara said and left the room. Ami looked at Usagi for a moment and then ran after Shinohara. Their shouted voices mixed with those of Aunt Mai and Mister Jameson wanting to know what the shouting was about and then the front door slammed. Moments later, they could hear Ami in the front yard, shouting for Shinohara to wait.  
  
"Too far?" Usagi asked Naru.  
  
Naru nodded. "Happens sometimes."  
  
"Ami'll set him straight and I'll apologize. Everything will be right again."  
  
"Yeah. Hey, the Boys are coming to Tokyo. They'll be performing at the arena."  
  
"Oooh. Let's throw plums as them this time."  
  
****  
  
It took Ami almost two hours to find Gendo and by then, night had fallen. He was sitting on the bench in the park, staring at the fountain.  
  
"Hi," Ami said, sitting next to him. Gendo didn't even grunt in reply. "Gendo...Gendo, please, talk to me."  
  
"What sort of friend asks questions like that? Never in all my life have I met anyone that obnoxious." Gendo turned to look at her and his eyes were blazing with fury. "Ami, stop hanging around her."  
  
"What?" Ami hid it well, but she had a temper that would scare all but the bravest souls, and Gendo's words had stirred it from its sleep.  
  
"Stop hanging around her. I demand it. She's a bad influence."   
  
"Demand?" Ami asked softly. "You demand I turn my back on one of the few people besides you and my family who's ever dared to treat me like a human being?" Ami could feel the edges of her temper beginning to fray. She did not want to have a fight in the middle of the park.  
  
Gendo, unfortunately, had had two hours to work up a fine head of steam and it broke lose. "What human being? She constantly teases you, flings insults, thumbs her nose at authority, and pays no attention to her grades. Then hides behind her name. She's worse then a Burakumin! They, at least know their place."  
  
Now, up until that point, Ami had been doing pretty well with controlling her temper, but now it woke up and roared it's fury. "Place?" She repeated. "And just what, pray tell, is her 'place'? Hm? In the kitchen? Walking behind her boyfriend? Blending into the crowd? Not standing out?"  
  
Even through the haze of his anger, Gendo knew he had crossed a line and tried to backpedal. "No! But she shouldn't be so outspoken."  
  
"Maybe I like outspoken!" Ami snapped. "Let me tell you something, Gendo Shinohara, who, by the way, is afraid to even hold my hand in public for fear he'd be seen as too forward, who apologizes every time he even trips over something for being such a clumsy oaf. You think I'm going to be offended if you trip? I spent the past two years being a target for Flash Kino's version of humor. I can tolerate an insult or two and Usagi's at least, are meant in jest. Usagi, at least, isn't afraid to go after what she wants!"  
  
"Listen, you--" Gendo started, but was cut off by a growling noise. It was low and subtle, this growl, sending chills of terror through the two teens as Ami belatedly realized that her danger sense had been blaring since just after she and Gendo had started arguing. The growl became louder and turning their heads, they saw a wolf approaching. But this was no ordinary wolf. It was huge, with large teeth and extra-sharp claws. It's eyes were mad and hungry.  
  
"Stay calm," Gendo whispered, grabbing her arm. "It won't attack us if it doesn't see us as a threat." Ami tried to do what he said, but her danger sense was blaring louder and louder, compelling her to back away, to get away. "Ami, damn it all, stay still!" Ami didn't listen, the terror was fully on her and she shoved Gendo away, not even hearing as he slammed into the bench.  
  
'OhGodOhGodHaveToGetAwayMonsterMonsterMommyMommyWhatsWrongWithThePlane?'  
  
The screams of people and metal echoed in her ears as Ami fled.  
  
****  
  
She hurt. It was dark and hot and pain flooded her body whenever she took a breath. Something was over her legs, holding them down. Something big. Where was her mommy? She wanted Mommy. Mommy would make it all better.  
  
It was getting hotter.  
  
They were supposed to land safely. Mommy said the planes landed safely.  
  
She didn't feel very safe.  
  
Where was Mommy?  
  
Mommy?  
  
****  
  
Ami blinked as the rooftop swam into view, her breath came in great, shuddering heaves as her heart tried to pound its way out of her chest. It was a strange feeling, she hadn't been this out of breath in over a month. Sitting up, she realized had been curled up in the fetal position next to the small wall that ran around the perimeter of a roof. "Where?" She turned around to look and gasped. Tokyo was spread out before her, a sea of lights. Leaning over the wall, she tried to read the words of the building upon who's roof she stood. "Ik..Kar...Ikari Inc? But that's--"  
  
'The tallest building in Tokyo and it's on the other side of the city from Juuban!' her inner voice shouted. 'I just ran all the way across freakin' Tokyo!' With that realization came a memory of her crawling up the side of the tower. Her hands and feet clinging to the glass and steel like velcro. 'I really am a freak,' she thought to herself.' Already her breathing was normal and her heartbeat was slowing to its normal pace. 'More proof that I was right to keep this curse a secret.' She looked around the roof and sighed. There was no sign of roof access to the inside of the building and with another sigh, she began to crawl down the side of the tower, hoping no one saw her.  
  
****  
  
It was rare for Usagi to see someone spitting mad and even rarer for that anger to be not directed at her. It was therefore, with some amusement, that she and Naru sat side by side on the couch sharing a bag of candied nuts and watching as Mister Jameson screamed into his phone.  
  
"I told you! Her name is Ami Mizuno, she's fifteen years old and she ran out of the house three hours ago after her friend and has yet to call us. She's my granddaughter and I want her found. So get off your--" he said several words in English, which Usagi didn't speak, but they sounded naughty "--and find her instead of feeding me excuses!" Whoever was at the other end said something that Jameson apparently didn't like because he turned a peculiar shade of reddish purple and bellowed into the phone. "Rules be damned! FIND HER!" With that, he jabbed the phone with his thumb, cutting the connection.  
  
"I told you," Aunt Mai was sobbing to the officer standing in the middle of the room. "She and her boyfriend had some kind of argument and he left. She followed him and that was the last we saw of her. Isn't there anything you can do?"  
  
"We're doing everything we can, Ms. Mizuno," the officer said. "We'll find her."  
  
At that moment, the door opened and they heard somebody come in.  
  
"Ami?" Aunt Mai asked. There was no answer but a few moments later, Ami shuffled into the room. She looked around smiling, but her eyes were blank, half-dazed. "Oh dear," Mai said softly and went over to her niece, and knelt in front of her. "Ami? Are you okay?"  
  
Some of the blankness seemed to fade. "I'm fine, Aunt Mai, I just...remembered."  
  
"The crash?" Mai asked softly. Ami nodded, no longer dazed and her eyes were alert.  
  
"Crash?" the officer asked.  
  
"She was at Okinawa," Jameson said gruffly. "Number Seven."  
  
"She's one of the Miracles?" The officer asked, obviously astonished. The Okinawa Air Collision was one of the worst disasters in Japanese history. A one in a billion combination of equipment failure, sloppy traffic control and bad weather had caused three Marine Transports and two passenger liners to collide over Okinawa Marine Base. Only seven people had survived, most of them children. More then a thousand people dead in the air and twenty more on the ground during both rescue efforts and when bits of the planes had flown every which way upon landing, destroying buildings and incinerating an entire stretch of tarmac. The so called "Miracle Seven" had become minor celebrities, each one bearing the number in the order they had been pulled from the wreckage. "I thought her name seemed familiar." Ami Mizuno had been number seven, the last living being they found.  
  
"Whoo-hoo!" Usagi shouted, jumping to her feet. "I call slumber party at Ami's house!" She grabbed Ami's arm. "We're going to braid your hair." With that, she and Naru dragged Ami from the room. Their voices, however, could still be heard.  
  
"My hair? Why my hair?"  
  
"Because ever since to that incident with the goats, Naru won't let me near hers with a curling iron."  
  
"It wasn't goats, it was sheep!"  
  
"Well," the officer closed his notebook. "I suppose that's that." He touched a fingertip to his hat. "Good evening."  
  
"I suppose I should be moving along as well," Jameson said. "Miki will be starting to wonder." He paused. "Mai, are you sure it's a good idea? The slumber party? I've heard stories about Tsukino and Osaka."  
  
"I wasn't sure either," Mai replied. "But Ami trusts them, and they have never once failed to be there for her when she needs friends." From upstairs came a shriek of laughter and Naru's shouted voice declaring a pillow fight. "And Ami needs friends tonight."  
  
Jameson nodded. "Good night, Mai."  
  
"Good night, Jonah."  
  
****  
  
Mai rose with the sun. The noises from Ami's room had fallen away just after midnight and a check at three showed them lying in various places around the room. More importantly, Ami had a smile on her face.  
  
Nodding to herself, Mai poured her second cup of tea and turned the page of the file she was looking at, absently answering the phone when it rang.  
  
"Mizuno Matchmaking," Mai answered.  
  
"Turn on Channel Six News."  
  
"Jonah?"  
  
"Just do it." the phone clicked and Mai heard the dial tone.  
  
"Curious," Mai said to herself and set the phone down. Walking into the TV room, she turned the TV on and flipped the dial to six.  
  
"Once again, the body found late last night in the park has finally been identified. Gendo Shinohara, age fifteen, was apparently mauled by some large animal near the Genki memorial fountain. Police still have no clues as to who could have turned the animal loose or what kind of animal it was, though a on scene examination suggests a large dog. Search teams are presently combing the park, which is, of course, closed to the public until further notice. Wendi Li, Tokyo Six news."  
  
Mai closed her eyes for a moment and then swept up the stairs to Ami's room where she found the girls rousing themselves.  
  
"Good morning, Aunt Mai," Ami said and then looked at her face. "Aunt Mai? What's wrong?"  
  
Mai swallowed hard, the words lodged in her throat. "There is something on the news you should see," she said quietly.  
  
Giving her aunt a puzzled look, Ami left the room, Naru right behind her. Usagi, however, stopped at the doorway and looked at the older woman. "Bad?" the teen asked. Ami's wail of grief from downstairs answered the question. "Oh, Hell," Usagi said and hurried downstairs.  
  
****  
  
Ami finished her prayers and stared down at Gendo's grave. It had been a week since the funeral and she still felt empty inside.   
  
Hollow.  
  
"Are you okay?" asked a voice. Ami turned to see a tall, graceful woman standing nearby. She wore a business suit and her long hair seemed almost dark green in the afternoon sun.  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm...no." Ami stood. "He's been gone more then a week, the hurting should start to fade by now, shouldn't it?  
  
"I couldn't say," the woman answered. "I've lost many friends...some pains never fade....and neither do the memories."  
  
"I'm sorry," Ami said. "I didn't mean to take you away from them."  
  
"No, no. It's quite all right. It was a long time ago. My first husband has...interests here. I was visiting when I saw you." She gestured at the headstone. "Father?"  
  
"No, my boyfriend...he died last week. Animal attack." She wiped away her tears furiously. "It's not fair. It was too soon."  
  
"It's always too soon for the ones we leave behind. All we can do is try to make this world a better place with the gifts we have...and those we are given. Even if we don't seem them as gifts to begin with."  
  
Ami turned to stare at the woman, but there was no sign of her. She stared back down at the grave and then looked at her hands.  
  
She had been given great power and had hidden it. She had run, when she had the power...the responsibility to stand and fight.  
  
And if she hadn't run, Gendo would still be alive.  
  
A grim resolve filled her. She knew what she had to do.  
  
Turning on her heel, she left the park.  
  
****  
  
The room was dark.  
  
Dark save for the table in the middle of the room. Upon this table sat a lamp, which cast a small circle of light around the table, and beyond that circle, deep blackness. The only other thing on the table was a small, old fashioned tape recorder.  
  
Accompanied by a sigh, a hand emerged from the shadows laying a golden crown on the table. The hand was pale as moonlight, with long and graceful fingers. Pinkish red eyes hidden in the shadow studied the tape recorder for a moment, and then pressed the play button. The voice that emerged was weary, hollow, but carried a note of steel. It was the voice of someone with a mission.  
  
"This is the journal of Ami Mizuno, to be published in the event of her death. I have been more then a month in the preparation for my purpose: my atonement for the act of cowardice that cost Gendo Shinohara his life. Whether by accident or design, I have power. I could have used that power stopped that creature, but instead I fled, and someone I loved died. Someone who only wanted to be a police officer, to protect his fellow citizens. He can no longer do that.   
  
But I can.  
  
Be it gift, curse, or both, with Great Power, comes the even Greater Responsibility to use it. I have dedicated myself to seeking out those who would harm others for profit, amusement, and evil. I will do everything I can to make sure that no one else experiences the loss I have.  
  
From this moment on, Ami Mizuno is a shell, a guise. Never again will I give in to fear. Never again will I run. I am the Spider, I am the night.  
  
I am *Spiderwoman.*" 


	3. A Bargain Struck

"Popeye drops his trousers in front of Bluto. 'Sailor Moon!'" -My friend after I told him about this fic. "John? Honey?" *WHACK* -His wife after he said that.  
  
One week later...  
  
"Your gramps is on the warpath." Usagi said without preamble as she sat down across the lunch table from Ami. Ami looked up from her bento.  
  
"I'm sorry?"  
  
She handed Ami the paper. "Page seven, under the editorials." Ami took the paper and opened it to the appropriate page.  
  
Tokyo Under Siege. By J. Jonah Jameson, Publisher.  
  
What is Tokyo coming to? First this Sailor Moon comes from nowhere, and now we have someone calling herself Spiderwoman beating street scum into so much pulp and leaving them for dead, taking it upon herself to administer justice.  
  
Do either of these women have any respect for the law? Do they care that their actions are forcing the police to take time to try and find them when they should be keeping the city safe? Have they been deputized? Do they answer to anyone except for themselves?  
  
Does anyone know anything about these women? Where do they come from? Who are they? Why don't they come forward?   
  
I'll tell you why. Because they are no better then the scum they purport to be fighting. Anyone who takes the law into their own hands is a menace as great, if not greater than, for example, a Tsunami, or some other disaster.  
  
I love Japan, I love Tokyo, and I, for one, refuse to sit idly by while these terrorists run rampant.  
  
I will make you, my fellow citizens, a promise. And that promise is this: I will use all the resources I have to unmask these lawbreakers and bring them before the bar of justice they thumb their noses at.  
  
"I...see..." Ami said as she handed the paper back to Usagi. "That's very interesting."  
  
"Aint it though?" Usagi asked and set the paper aside. "You doing anything Saturday night? That's the night the amusement park is open twenty-four hours so Naru and I are gonna go and we're not leaving until we've hit every ride, shop and food stand, or we pass out, or until they throw us out at sunset Sunday, whichever comes first. It's dutch treat on the tickets, everyone pays for their own. You in?"  
  
Spiderwoman hesitated. Saturday night would be a good patrol night. Lots of people blowing off steam, lots of scum she could take off the streets. But she also had to maintain the fiction that was Ami. She hated the time that being Ami took away from her mission, but there was no help for it.  
  
"Sure, Ami said. "Sounds...fun."  
  
"Great. Meet us by the admission gates at five."  
  
****  
  
Naru was singing the theme to Magic Knights Rayearth when she entered Usagi's room. "So why did I have to meet you here?" she asked when she finished. Usagi pointed at the black cat seated on her bed. "What? Luna? You've had her for years."  
  
"No," Usagi said. "She talks."  
  
"A talking cat?" Naru smirked. "Usagi old girl, I know we've collaborated on some whoppers, but pulling that off is beyond even our genius."  
  
"No, she really talks. No joke. Come on Luna, say something."  
  
The black cat looked up at Usagi with an innocent expression. "Meow." Usagi stared at the cat for a moment and then whipped a pillow off her bed and hit Luna with it. "What was that for?!" Luna yelled and then cringed.  
  
Molly stared in genuine shock. Before her eyes, a crescent moon had appeared on Luna's forehead and her eyes gained a fierce intelligence. "What the hell?" She blinked a few times and then looked at her friend. "Wait. Cute talking animal...please don't tell me you're a magical girl." Usagi nodded mournfully. "Oh how the mighty have fallen," Naru said melodramtically as she sat backwards on Usagi's desk chair. "So what's your magical girl name? Wait, lemme guess...um, Sparkling Generation Magical Pretty Girl Valkeryie Miko?"  
  
Usagi shook her head. "Nope." She leaped onto the bed and struck a pose. "I fight for love and justice. I am Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!"  
  
"Sailor Moon? You're the one kicking ass all over Tokyo?"  
  
"I've told you, Usagi," Luna said reprovingly. "You are not Sailor Moon to..." she shuddered. "Kick ass. You're supposed to find the Moon Princess. She's the only one who can find and unlock the full power of Ginzihozu, the Moon Crystal."  
  
"So what else is new?" Molly said, waving a hand dismissivly. "Tell me the good stuff. Who's the awesomely bishie hunk that your destined to be with for the rest of eternity?"  
  
Usagi closed her eyes and pretended to swoon. "Tuxedo Mask. He's brave, daring--you should see how his tuxedo fits him--and oh so mysterious."  
  
"No shit?" Naru asked and Usagi nodded. "It's Chiba." Naru said after a moment. "He's Tuxedo Mask."  
  
"Very funny, Naru."  
  
"Think about it. You keep bumping into him, you're always fighting, and then there's Tuxedo Mask, who--let me guess -- shows up whenever you're in trouble, right?" Usagi nodded mournfully. "Standard issue Magical Girl stuff," Naru said airily. "Take off that mask of his and you'll see Mamoru Chiba. I guarantee." At Luna's questioning look, Naru rolled her eyes. "His name's Tuxedo Mask. Of course he has a mask. Duh."  
  
"Awwwww...."ÊUsagi beat her head against the bed. "Why did it have to be him?"  
  
"Hey, I don't make the rules," Naru said. "But since he's your destined to be, what are you gonna do?"  
  
"Kill him and hope his replacement has a better personality?"  
  
"Nah. He's that way for a reason and you'll probably need him later."  
  
"For what? To persuade me to get a lobotomy?"  
  
"Oh come on, would it really be that bad to wake up next to him every morning? Besides, you're fifteen. You got plenty of time to train him before the wedding." Naru flung an arm around Usagi's shoulder. "But for now, harken unto thy pocketbook, me transforming lass, for it is thee who shalt be paying for our tickets."  
  
"Me? What happened to dutch treat?"  
  
"The ticket is my fee for keeping my mouth shut about your fall from grace into the castrated hell that is magical girl shojo and Ami's ticket is your good deed for the millenium."  
  
Usagi's reply was a resounding rasberry.  
  
****  
  
"What kind of vitamins are you eating, girl?" Usagi asked. She and Naru were starting to hit their limit, but Ami was still very bright-eyed. "Its almost one in the morning, and you look like you've just had a good night's sleep."  
  
"All the walking I've done, I guess."  
  
Usagi let out a snort, elbowed Naru to wake her up, and lobbed her empty drink cup into the trash can behind her without bothering to look.   
  
"Hey! Meatball Head!"  
  
At the shout, Usagi turned to see Chiba standing by the table next to the trash can. He had her drink cup in his hand and was scowling. At the table, a tall, sandy-haired young man was attempting not to snicker. "Watch where you're aiming," Chiba growled.  
  
Usagi stared at Chiba for a moment, trying to picture him in a tuxedo. "I don't see it," she said, "there's no way he's him."  
  
"He is," Naru said with the self-assured air of someone who knew she was right. "You can't fight destiny, Usagi."  
  
"This is tweed," Chiba said, indicating the green sport jacket he was wearing. "Do you know how much dry cleaning will cost me? I have fees to deal with!"  
  
"Well wear a collar," Usagi shot back.  
  
Chiba blinked at that, and opened his mouth to respond when his friend grabbed his arm. "Come on, Mammy. Arguing aint worth it."  
  
"'Mammy'?" Usagi giggled.  
  
"Motoki," Chiba asked, pain in his voice. "Did you have to do that?"  
  
"No, but it was fun."  
  
"Oooh, I like him," Naru all but purred when the two young men had left.  
  
"What? Chiba? You can have him."  
  
"No, his friend."  
  
"Down, girl."  
  
"Down? Do I look like some Akita?"  
  
"Only in the mornings."  
  
As Tsukino and Okasa continued to babble their inanity, Spiderwoman silently gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure as Ami sipped her coffee. But when more then a minute had passed and the cousins had started trading insults while speaking in bad irish accents, Spiderwoman knew she had to either break up this farce or kill them both.  
  
"Um, Usagi?" Ami asked. "If we want to get to the Jet Hurl, we should probably go now."  
  
"Ah yes, vomit fun for everyone. Forward!" Usagi took a step forward only to be hurled backwards as the souvienr stand nearby exploded, hurling hats and cheap plastic doodads every which way.  
  
From the fire came some kind of horror. It was human shaped, but built like some kind of demented scarab beetle.  
  
Usagi swore under her breath. "Ami, Naru?"  
  
"Ami's gone," Naru said as the monster began to rampage. "Must have run off. Can't say I blame her."  
  
"Go find her, I'll deal with this."  
  
"The hell I will." Naru said and picked up the remains of a chair.  
  
"Naru. Please. Go find Ami. I'll meet you guys by the gates."  
  
"But I can-" Naru started to say when Usagi inturuppted her.  
  
"Ami can't."   
  
Naru flinched and then nodded and darted off.   
  
Diving behind the wreckage of the tables, Usagi concentrated on her clothes said the magic words.  
  
"Moon Power Make-Up."  
  
The light washed over her and then passed. Sailor Moon stood up and studied herself in the remains of the glass. She was dressed entirely in black. Black turtlenecked tunic, black pants, black gloves, heavy boots and a black leather trench. A gold tiara encirled her forehead and her odangos bore red jewels. It looked good on her and damnit, she looked good in it.  
  
"Trinity, eat your heart out," she said to herself and vaulted over the tables to where she knew the youma could see her. "Hold it, creature of darkness," she called out in ringing tones. The youma turned and stared stupidly at her. "I am Sailor Moon, champion of Love and Justice and--" she broke off as something fastened on her trench and yanked her bodily into the air. "--Yaaaahhhhhhhh!" she screeched and then stopped as a red gloved hand grabbed her shirt. She stared into black lensed eyes set into a red mask. The mask was part of a form fitting costume worn by a woman crouched on the light pole like some kind of predatory insect. The costume was red and blue, pouches were set on the thighs and the right arm had some kind of spider on it. The two front legs were pointing forward onto the back of her hand, the two middle legs were wrapped around her wrist and the two back legs pointed towards her elbow.  
  
"You waste time speaking," the woman said in cold, emotionless tones. "That will get you killed."  
  
Below, the youma resumed its rampage.  
  
"And just who are you, Sunshine?" Sailor Moon demanded, crossing her arms. The effect was slightly ludicrous, but like she was going to flail her arms and legs looking for a nonexistant something to stand on? No way, buster.  
  
"Spiderwoman."  
  
"Well, I'm-"  
  
"A fool," Spiderwoman cut her off.  
  
"You know, that's a very nasty habit you have." Sailor Moon pointed out. "You got a pen and paper? My friend has this aunt who teaches ettiqute, wonderful lady. You go see her, she'll help you break your habit of inturrupting, and-" a scream inturrupted her and they turned to see a gang of young men tearing at the clothes of a schoolgirl and her friend. Spiderwoman let go and leapt towards the rape in progress even as Sailor Moon fell to the ground some twenty feet below and immeditly sprang back into the air towards the youma, delivering a flying kick that knocked it over. As it struggled to its feet, Sailor Moon glanced over to where the girls had been attacked. Spiderwoman was leaping around, several of the young men were on the ground...and there was way too much red stuff on the pavement and walls to be spilled paint or someone's spilled soda.  
  
"Kuso," Sailor Moon breathed in shock and horror and then ate pavement as the youma plowed into her from behind. "Asshole!" Sailor Moon screeched, lunging to her feet and whipping around to drive her fist into its abdomen.  
  
The youma made a huffing noise and stared at her for a moment before its claw whipped back and slammed into her like a freight train.  
  
"Shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" Sailor Moon cried as she flew across the footpath to total the fruit stand. Wiping custard off her face she glared at the youma. "This is expensive leather!" she yelled, "watch it!" She did not, however, get to her feet. As Sailor Moon, she was consideribly tougher and stronger, but there were limits and it was all she could do to sit up. Her ribs were probably broken and she wouldn't be surprised if she was bleeding internally.  
  
Staring at her for a few more moments, the youma suddenly turned and lumbered back towards the small shops it had been tearing apart earlier.  
  
'Its stupid,' she realized suddenly. "Spiderwoman! Don't attack it!" She yelled out, seeing the red and blue clad woman swinging towards the youma. Almost impossibly, Spiderwoman changed direction in mid-air and swung towards her.  
  
"What do you mean?" Spiderwoman asked.  
  
"A hand up?" Sailor Moon asked acidly, holding out her hand. Spiderwoman grabbed her wrist and yanked her to her feet. "It only attacks what's attacking it," she continued, somehow manging to keep the revulsion out of her voice as she glanced at the blood stains and bits of brains and hair on her sleeve where Spiderwoman had grabbed her. "If we don't attack, it ignores us and just destroys stuff." She spat out a lump of colagulated blood, wincing as she felt her ribs finish knitting themselves back together.  
  
"Logical."  
  
"I'll assume that means you agree with me. Now listen, I can take care of this bastard, but it has to be weakened some more first. Any ideas?"  
  
"Lead it towards the Jet Hurl," Spiderwoman said. She stuck her hand in the air made some kind of gesture with her fingers, and a stream of something gray was launched into the air. Grabbing the end, she sailed into the air, disappearing into the shadows.  
  
"Lead it towards the Jet Hurl," she says," Sailor Moon mocked as she picked up a length of pipe. "Bitch."  
  
****  
  
With an roar, the youma disentigrated and the tiara rematerialized on Sailor Moon's forehead. The evil was defeated, but at (in Sailor Moon's opinion) far too great a cost.  
  
"You could have told me you were planning to pull the Jet Hurl down on its head," Sailor Moon said. She kicked at a piece of steel. "Never even got to ride it."  
  
Spiderwoman didn't answer, but instead raised her left arm and again made that strange gesture.  
  
Sailor Moon grabbed her right arm and felt something give. With a whisper, Spiderwoman's costume suddenly seemed to flow, retracting into the spider, which then changed into a oval shaped watch. "Woah," Sailor Moon said and looked into Spiderwoman's face.  
  
The world seemed to wildly lurch, heave, buck and finally swing a sledgehammer at Sailor Moon's world, shattering it. "Ami?" Sailor Moon asked in a sick voice.  
  
She was looking at Ami, but it wasn't Ami looking back. The face before her was empty of emotion, of life, there was only a deathly coldness in those ice-blue orbs. It was like staring at a thing that had chosen for some perverse reason to wear her friend's face like a mask.  
  
"Ami?" Sailor Moon tried again.  
  
Without a word, the Ami-thing jerked her arm free. Touching the watch, her face vanished once more under the costume. Then she swung away, leaving Sailor Moon to stand there amid the remains of the coaster.  
  
****  
  
Somehow, she managed to get home, dodging Naru's questions and apologies for being unable to find Ami or why Usagi was white as a sheet.  
  
For the rest of Sunday, she lay on her bed, staring at nothing. Vaugely, she was aware of Luna trying to talk to her, and of her phone going off repeatedly, but she ignored them both. Like a vision, she kept seeing Ami's face dancing before her eyes as her memory replayed the events of the past few months, suddenly putting what had been formerly unrelated facts together with what she knew about Ami. What emerged was what was probably Carl Jung's wet dream.  
  
As the sun set, Usagi got up and walked to her computer and fired up the high speed acess. Ignoring the ten or so e-mails in her inbox, most of them from Naru, she began studying everything the net could teach her about psychology.  
  
****  
  
"Let me see if I get you here," Naru said as the cousins neared the Academy's front gates. It had taken most of the walk for Usagi to explain her theory. "You think that doodad Ami was holding when Flash shoved her gave her spider powers, which was why she has anime babe curves, and she blames herself for Shinny's death, so she went stone cold killer and only pretends to be Ami because its convientent for some reason."  
  
"Pretty much, yeah."  
  
Naru hit her cousin across the back of the head. "Get real! That has to be the lamest ass theory I've ever heard. What could possibly make you believe that insanity"  
  
"My twelveth birthday party," Usagi said.  
  
"What about it?"  
  
"We were watching some anime and we swore that if either one of us ever became a magical girl--"  
  
"The other would shoot herself in the foot," Naru finished. "All right, all right. So let's say you're right and Ami's using the Misato Katsuragi method to clean up Tokyo. What do we do? Ask her to stop?"  
  
"I wasn't planning on asking," Usagi said grimly and then spied Ami sitting on the school steps reading a book.  
  
"I don't see it," Naru said and took a deep breath. "What's the plan?"  
  
"The usual."  
  
"Make it up as we go along. My favorite."   
  
Ami glanced up as Usagi and Naru sat down on either side of her.  
  
"Hi, Ami," Usagi chirped.  
  
"Mornin," Naru put in.  
  
Ami stared at them. "Hello," she said hesitantly.  
  
"Ami, you have got to see this thing Naru got online. Just came this morning."  
  
"Totally unbelievable."  
  
"Come on," Each cousin grabbed Ami's wrist and pulled her off the steps and around the corner of the school. As soon as they were out of sight, Usagi grabbed Ami's shirt and pushed her against the school wall. "Okay, Spiderwoman, let's chat."  
  
Naru stared as Ami's face seemed to suddenly change. It was like Usagi had described it. As though something was wearing their friend's face like some kind of mask because what was behind it was to unthinkable to gaze upon. It wasn't even really a mask, it was like Ami had suddenly been replaced by something that looked like Ami, sounded like Ami, but was completly alien.  
  
"What do you want?" Spiderwoman asked. Naru shivered. She even talked different and her voice...so cold...empty.  
  
"Listen carefully, because this is the only time Sailor Moon and Spiderwoman are going to have this talk in their civvies. You want to play protector of Tokyo, fine. I have youma to worry about." Usagi pulled Spiderwoman close until they were nose to nose. "But if you kill again, if you take even one human life, no matter what they did, I swear to God I'll hunt you down myself and unmask you before the whole damn city. Even if it means the youma win."  
  
"The revalation of my identidy is an empty threat. Ami Mizuno died in the park two weeks ago. I use her identidy because it is convenient. You're wasting my time."  
  
"You really want to fuck with me, Spiderwoman? You wanna go right here?"  
  
The two stared at each other for several minutes. "If it will prevent further conversations like this, then I accept your proposal," Spiderwoman said. "The scum can keep their lives."  
  
"Good." Usagi said and released Ami, straightening her shirt and smoothing out the wrinkles. "Come on, Ami," she said, throwing her arm around the other girl's shoulders as the bell rang. "Lets go get us some edumacation!" 


	4. Complications

"Europe should have more countries." -George W. Bush.  
  
"I don't get it," Naru said as she and Usagi walked to their class after walking Ami to hers. "What does treating Ami and Spiderwoman like two separate people do?"  
  
"Nothing right now, but down the road, plenty." Naru looked liked a poleaxed cat and Usagi sighed. "As near as I can figure, Ami blames herself for Shinnie biting the big one. She had the power but refused the responsibility to use it."  
  
"With Great Power comes Great Responsibility?" Naru asked.  
  
"Something like that. Anyway, she created Spiderwoman to live up to that because Ami failed."  
  
"And Ami hates to fail." Naru said, understanding dawning.  
  
"Bingo. And she's a control freak when it comes to herself. So I'm going to use that. I'm going to treat them as separate people. Force them to define themselves as Ami and Spiderwoman. Ami, the human with gifts, and Spiderwoman the psycho. Once that's done, I'll plant the notion in Ami's ear that giving up half her life to Spiderwoman is losing control. She'll take it from there."  
  
"Are you on crack or something? That has to be the stupidest plan I've ever heard."  
  
"Trust me, Naru. Come on. How many times have I been wrong?" Usagi asked expansivly.  
  
"We don't have an hour and a half." was Naru's sardonic reply.  
  
****  
  
If Spiderwoman bothered with such things like emotion, she would be upset. Even as Ami browsed ScienceWorld looking for the chemicals needed to make the webbing and talked shop with one of the clerks, Spiderwoman was turning the conversation with the Tsukino girl over and over, studying it. Something was wrong. Everything Ami knew about her suggested that she was up to something. But try as she might, Spiderwoman could not fathom what it was.  
  
At that point, her Danger Sense began buzzing a warning and Spiderwoman realized that the clerk was just standing there with a blank look on her face. In fact, the whole store was like that. Except for...a youma standing on the counter, arms wide. This youma was more human looking, with a bulbous looking pod on each shoulder that seemed to be pulsing with its own rhythm. The people nearest it began to collapse, as though exhausted.  
  
Without a second thought, Spiderwoman reached for Ami's cell phone, a gift from Usagi from last Christmas. Usagi was on speed dial.  
  
The phone rang once and then Usagi answered. "Thank you for calling Akitas R Us, your one stop bestiality supply store. This is Bukkake Hentai, how can I help you?"  
  
"Youma at ScienceWorld." Spiderwoman said simply and hung up. Tossing the bag behind a stack of case mods, she touched the watch.  
  
****  
  
"Well that was considerate," Usagi said as she put her phone away and flagged the waitress, completely ignoring the hostile stares from some of the other customers and the staff, who apparently had no sense of humor.  
  
"Who was it?" Naru asked.  
  
"Ami's other half. Fun is happening and we are not part of it."  
  
"Well then. There must be rectification of this grievous oversight immediately."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"Excuse me, Miss." The two teens looked up as a man approached. He was slightly balding, wore glasses and had a bad mustache. The word manager was written all over him, figuratively speaking. "Your method of answering the phone was rude and completely inappropriate and I'm afraid I must ask you to-" Usagi handed him her credit card and his eyes widened as he saw the name written on it. "-please accept these discount coupons. Your meal is, of course, free."  
  
"Bootlicker," Naru muttered under her breath.  
  
"I love eating at dad's shops." Usagi said to Naru.  
  
****  
  
Spiderwoman leapt high as a server rack rocketed through the space where she had just been to hit the youma in the chest.  
  
"Sorry I took so long," Sailor Moon called. "There was traffic on the rooftops. Pigeons, if you want to know. Nasty buggers. I think one of them tried to grope me." She ducked as the youma ripped a register from the counter and hurled it at her. "Hey! My dad's company makes those!" The youma threw another register. "Damnit!" The youma threw a third register. That one Sailor Moon caught and threw back. The youma dodged it and the register crashed into the clothing racks, scattering bills and coins everywhere as the impact broke the drawer mechanism. "Asshole!" Sailor Moon shouted as it disappeared into the store's cavernous aisles.  
  
Spiderwoman said nothing, but fired a line of that gray stuff and swung off into the tops of the shelves.  
  
"And I'll be in Scotland before ya," Sailor Moon sang to herself and jogged after the youma.  
  
At the counter, a blond man dressed in a blue gray uniform faded into view. Grabbing one of the registers, he lifted it with one hand and turned it over. On the bottom in black lettering on a white sticker was a simple statement; "Proudly manufactured by Tsukino Industries."  
  
The man smiled.  
  
****  
  
It was the laughter that caused the people on the street to look up.  
  
But by then, he was already gone.  
  
**** Luna shook herself as she stood on the shelving after getting into the store through the ventilation shaft.  
  
There was work to do and she set off along the shelving.  
  
****  
  
Sailor Moon leapt high and landed on the shelving as the Youma rushed through where she had been standing. Looking, up, she saw Spiderwoman jimmying open a skylight, Ami's bookbag in hand.  
  
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Sailor Moon demanded.  
  
"As you remarked earlier, the youma are yours to deal with," Spiderwoman replied flatly. "To protect this city, I delayed it until your arrival." The skylight swung open and Spiderwoman froze then flung herself at Sailor Moon, carrying them both off the shelving as the ceiling fell in, knocking the shelves down onto the youma which cried out once as it was crushed.  
  
Coughing, Sailor Moon waved her hand before her face to dispel the dust and dirt as the whine of a turbine reached her ears. As the dust settled, she saw a strange figure. It wore a sleeveless, legless bodysuit of garish purple over green body armor. Its hands and feet were covered by gloves and boots in that same purple and a dunce cap like hat was on its head, also in that same purple. At that point, Sailor Moon realized that it was somebody in a costume. The face was a mask. Red lensed eyes, long pointed ears, and a mouth fixed in an insane, teeth baring, open mouthed smile. It sat on what looked like some sort of flying broomstick, except that the stick was made out of metal and the bristles were a set of exhaust pipes.  
  
"Hello, Sailor Moon, Spiderwoman," the creature said. Sailor Moon frowned. There was something familiar about the creature's voice.  
  
"Who are you?" Spiderwoman demanded.  
  
"I thought I'd leave my name up to the press," the creature replied. The broomstick lunged forward and Spiderwoman went flying backwards as the creature planted its foot in her chest. The creature threw some kind of sphere at her which expanded into bands that bound Spiderwoman hand and foot. Then it faced Sailor Moon. "Let's talk. Your power, my genius. Already thanks to the Bugle's publisher, the citizens are beginning to hate you. But, between the two of us, we could rule this city and all of Japan. It wouldn't matter what they thought. The sheep would be ours. Power would be ours. Their fates in our hands." The creature moved closer and it's voice dropped. "Not to mention the other...benefits."  
  
"Go to hell, Pointy Ears," Sailor Moon replied.  
  
"Very well." The creature pointed its finger at her, there was a bright flash, and Sailor Moon was knocked backwards, sliding over the smooth cement tile.  
  
"What happened to telling me to think it over?" Sailor Moon coughed as she stood.  
  
"You're not the type to change your mind are you?"  
  
"Well, no."  
  
"There you go then." With the that the creature threw what looked like a metal bat at her and Sailor Moon ducked and rose just in time to have its fist catch her across the jaw.  
  
****  
  
Spiderwoman stirred in time to see the green man pick up Sailor Moon and throw her over the shelves and heard the thud of her body landing on the floor. Then with a hum, the creature followed and Spiderwoman heard more sounds of fists and feet colliding with flesh. Teeth gritted under the mask, Spiderwoman struggled to get free. But the bonds held firm. Spiderwoman redoubled her efforts and as she did, she felt a cold burning sensation on her forehead.   
  
"Sailor Mercury!" gasped a voice. Spiderwoman turned and saw Usagi's cat.ÊLuna standing on a shelf. The cat leapt down and picking up a small blue pen with her mouth, set it in Spiderwoman's hands. "Quickly," Luna urged. "Say Mercury Power Make Up! Do it! Sailor Moon needs help!"  
  
While Spiderwoman could have cared less, Ami was another story.   
  
****  
  
At this point, we must take a few moments to discuss Planck's Constant, Magic, MPD, and Moon Cat psychology.  
  
In layman's terms, Planck's Constant describes the constraints that keep everything functioning within the bounds of physical laws. So long as the constant is in effect, a human being able to say, shoot beams of destructive force from their eyes and suffer no ill effects is nothing more then fantasy.  
  
Magic, however, is nothing more or less then the complete and total disruption, by randomization of Planck's Constant. Although this disruption is measured in nanoseconds or less, in that time period, anything is possible. Even after the disruption is over, the changes in the universe is permanent. However, similar disruptions, or spells, if you prefer, can often have an odd effect if they happen without careful planning. One totally unforeseen by the caster.  
  
In Ami's case, Usagi had not quite guessed just how split Ami's personality already was or how far it had gone. One must recall that a month had passed between Gendo's death and the night Spiderwoman had begun operating. By then, she had already defined herself as Spiderwoman and Ami Mizuno. Alpha and Omega. Two completely different people who shared the same body.   
  
As for Luna, we must note that cats, and Moon Cats in particular are among the most focused and single-minded creatures in the universe. As anyone who has ever lived with a cat will tell you, if, for example, a cat wants a nap, then they will have a nap where and when they want. Luna was no exception. Her duty was to find, awaken, and train the Sailor Senshi so they could find the Moon Princess. Furthermore, Usagi had not told Luna that Ami was Spiderwoman, or about her theory regarding Ami's mental state. Even if she had, it might not have made a difference. Luna had a job to do and she had every intention of doing it...regardless of minor details like mental health... or that Ami had already been hit by one magical object.  
  
-Where?-  
  
-Sailor Mercury?-  
  
-Ano...-  
  
-You're the spider guardian.-  
  
-Oh my...-  
  
Ever notice that it's always the minor details that screw things up?  
  
****  
  
A hand like a steel vise grabbed Sailor Moon by the throat and hauled her up.  
  
'Stupid Usagi," she mentally berated herself through the pain. 'You kept trying to fight this loon like a youma. Just because it's wearing a hideous shade of purple doesn't mean it's stupid. Has no design sense yes, but not stupid.'  
  
"I would ask you if there were any last words, Sailor Moon," the creature said, "but since you've yet to say anything interesting..." It's fingertip began to glow.  
  
Something flashed across her field of vision and the creature dropped her and grabbed it's wrist as sparks shot from it. "Hold on, Sailor Moon!" A man's voice cried.  
  
"Ice Blast!" a woman's voice cried. And as Sailor Moon blacked out, she saw what looked like Ami in a blue and white sailor fuku.  
  
When she woke, she was strapped to Spiderwoman's back and they were swinging over the city. Sailor Moon looked down, vomited, and then blacked out.  
  
Through a haze, she heard Ami and Naru talking, but then she passed out again.  
  
She awoke to feeling something heavy on her chest that vibrated with a noise like a rumbling purr. She was sore all over and spots danced before her eyes for a few moments before fading away. "I feel terrible," she said and then turned her head to look as Naru leaned over.  
  
"She lives," Naru said and lifted Luna off Usagi's chest. "Can you sit up?"  
  
"I hope so," Usagi replied and did so, realizing that she was still Sailor Moon. She somehow managed to muster the concentration to change back to Usagi and swayed as her body returned to normal. "I feel terrible," she said again. "Where am I?"  
  
"My place. Spiderwoman brought you here. She was acting funny too. She dumped you on the bed and took off again." She handed Usagi some aspirin and then went to her closet. The cousins spent so much time together that each had a stash of clothes at the other's place. Naru straightened and turned back to Usagi, school uniform in hand. "Get dressed. I'll call for the car. I think that for you, walking is a bad idea today."  
  
****  
  
Ami stared as Spiderwoman and Sailor Mercury argued with each other. They were filmy and indistinct as they stood in the room near the bed, but they were there. Ami grabbed her head and moaned softly. She had just woken up from some sort of daze and the memories of what Spiderwoman had done, what horrors she had committed, danced before Ami's eyes. She could feel the blood on her hands, the skin was raw. Ami had washed her hands a dozen times, but she could still see bits of blood on her hands. "Unclean," she whispered. "So unclean."  
  
"Stop that," Sailor Mercury snapped. Ami looked up guiltily. The fuku clad teenager stood before her. "You're no more responsible for what Spiderwoman did then I am."  
  
"But I am her."  
  
"No. You're nothing like her and you know it."  
  
"This is foolish," Spiderwoman growled and her mask vanished and Ami shuddered back as her own empty eyes stared at her and Mercury. "We should have been out punishing scum last night instead of coddling her weak conscience."  
  
"No. We should not have," Mercury said reasonably. She laid a hand on Ami's shoulder, comforting. "Ami is one of us, like it or not."  
  
"And what about Gendo?" Spiderwoman demanded. "What about his vengeance?"  
  
"This has gone beyond vengeance," Mercury said in that same maddeningly reasonable tone. "I feel the pain of Gendo's loss the same as the two of you, but matters have changed. Nothing justifies putting Ami through this."  
  
Ami let out a choked sob and leaned against Mercury, trying very hard not to think about what was happening.  
  
"Everything justifies it. Ami is weak. Gendo demands vengeance. If she could avenge him she would. But she can't." She leaned over to Ami and whispered. "Weak."  
  
"Now that's enough," Mercury said sharply. "You're to stop abusing her."  
  
"Who will stop me, Mercury? You?"  
  
"If need be."  
  
There was a knock on the door, and Aunt Mai's voice called. "Ami? Are you okay?"  
  
Mercury glanced at Ami and then shoved her towards Spiderwoman. "Keep her quiet. I'll handle this." She and Spiderwoman both vanished and Ami felt herself leave her body and watched as she got up and began gathering their bathing things as the door slid open.   
  
"I heard voices," Mai said.  
  
"Just the radio, Aunt Mai. It was a debate," Ami watched herself say. She tried to call out, but couldn't. It was as though a hand was across her mouth.  
  
"Sounded lively," Mai mused and then she sighed as she saw the bed, the sheets rumpled slightly. "Slovenly," she murmured as she smoothed out the rumples.  
  
"I'm sorry, Aunt Mai. I was thinking about my economics test."  
  
Mai smiled and gave her niece a hug. "I understand, just try to be more thoughtful in the future. Now bathe, get dressed, and come downstairs. Breakfast is almost ready."  
  
"Yes, Aunt Mai."  
  
As the door closed, Ami slid out of Spiderwoman's grip and curled up into a ball on the floor humming tunelessly.  
  
"Pitiful," Spiderwoman said softly as Sailor Mercury laid her hand on Ami's forehead.  
  
"Sleep," the Senshi whispered and Ami slid into blackness.  
  
"That was clever," Spiderwoman said. "Now how do you propose we make it through the day without her?"  
  
"I can do it," Mercury replied as she laid out a school uniform and then picked up the basket of shampoo and soap and grabbed a robe.  
  
"You?" Spiderwoman asked. "Don't make me laugh."  
  
"Is that a note of scoff I hear?" Mercury asked archly. "I thought you were emotionless."  
  
Spiderwoman made a hissing noise and then fell silent.  
  
****  
  
Usagi and Naru got out of the car and watched it pull away before stepping through the academy's gates. The aches had left Usagi's body and she felt fit as a fiddle.  
  
"Ahhh," she said, stretching. "Another fine day in the hallowed halls of Juuban Academy where we will be given education by the finest teachers in Japan...what a crock of shit."  
  
Naru let out a snort of laughter and shifted her grip on the large shopping bag she carried.  
  
"What's that?" Usagi asked.  
  
"Ami has a game today, remember? After school?"  
  
"Oh yeah." Usagi snatched the bag from Naru and peered inside. "No air horns?"  
  
"In my bag. Along with the inflatable beach ball."  
  
"I knew I liked you for some reason."  
  
"Bah," Naru retorted. "You just want me around so you can pick up guys."  
  
"Well there's that too--Hey! Ami!" Usagi waved as Ami walked through the front gate and then her eyes narrowed.  
  
"What's wrong?" Naru asked.  
  
"Something's wrong," Usagi said. "That's not Ami--or Spiderwoman." Like a shot, she ran over to Ami, throwing an arm around the girl's shoulders as Naru took Ami's other side. "Ami!" Usagi called out! "Have we got a deal for you!"  
  
"It's a perfume that smells like fish," Naru said as she and Usagi steered Ami towards a grove of trees. Both girls ignored the amused stares of their fellow students. By noon the school grapevine would be full of rumors that Usagi and Naru were up to something and they would likely be banned from the cafeteria for a week or so...again.  
  
"And salt," Usagi said. "Can't forget the salt."  
  
"Just think of all the boys who are into saltwater fishing who would come running if you wore this stuff." Naru said as the three of them entered the grove.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Usagi demanded.  
  
"You may call me Mercury," she replied. "Ami is...absent right now."  
  
"Absent? What do you mean, absent?" Mercury made a small gesture and Usagi and Naru felt their jaws drop as a filmy, indistinct image of Ami laying on the ground in a fetal position, apparently asleep. Spiderwoman stood nearby, glaring at them. "She's asleep, or perhaps dormant is a better term."  
  
"How..." Usagi managed to ask.  
  
"We're not really sure," Mercury replied. "But I am Ami Mizuno...in a sense. I seem to be a sort of middle ground between Ami and Spiderwoman. It's all very confusing."  
  
"I told you it was stupid plan," Naru said as she slapped the back of Usagi's head. 


	5. And The Thunder Rolls

Today's Fortune Cookie: New York is real. The rest is done with mirrors.  
  
"How did you do that, anyway?" Usagi asked as she, Mercury, and Naru headed towards the building.  
  
"Do what?" Mercury responded.  
  
"Gesture and make an image appear like that?"  
  
"I don't really know." Mercury frowned. "I wanted to show you, and I felt the water vapor respond. I know my Senshi powers are water based, but--"  
  
"Senshi!" Usagi exclaimed in a choked whisper. "I thought you said you were part of Ami."  
  
"I am, but I also know I'm a Senshi, whatever a Senshi is, and I know that Spiderwoman is also a Guardian Spider, but I--" She broke off as Usagi suddenly yanked her towards the nearby bathroom.  
  
"Why don't we step into my orifice for this?" Usagi said, as they burst in, startling several girls who were standing before the mirror primping.  
  
"Anyone who doesn't want to wind up naked should scram." The room empited immeditly. Naru inspected each stall to be sure there were no straggelers. "Talk," Usagi growled when Naru had signaled all clear.  
  
"I don't know anything more then that, I'm afraid. No," Mercury frowned. "Now that I think about it, I seem to recall seeing Luna at Scienceworld yesterday." Her eyes suddenly emptied and her expression became cold.  
  
"The animal spoke to me," Spiderwoman said. "It gave me a pen and told me to say 'Mercury Power Make-up' and then she awoke, then Ami awoke soon after that."  
  
"Mercury power," Naru mused. "Usagi, that's almost like--"  
  
"My transformation phrase," Usagi said. "Yeah. I know."  
  
An image of Mercury, faint and indistinct, like a cloud suddenly materialized next to Spiderwoman. "Are you suggesting that I and Sailor Moon are related somehow?"  
  
"It adds up, Usagi," Naru said. "The similarities in your outfits before you went Matrix, the transformation phrases, everything. I don't know what it all means, though."  
  
"It means Luna has been holding out on me," Usagi growled. "It's time we had a talk with that furball."  
  
The two minute warning bell went off.  
  
"Meet us after the game," Usagi said to Mercury. "We'll go back to my place and see what Luna has to say."  
  
They nodded and left, almost bumping into Beryl and three of her cohorts. Jinnai, Zon, and Katsuhito.  
  
"Hi, Beryl," Naru said, grinding her heel onto Usagi's toe.  
  
"Okasa," Beryl paused as she looked at Usagi and her tone dropped several degrees. "Tuskino." She paused again for a moment. "I trust you are both well." Beryl's voice was cultured and controlled. She spoke very precisely and clearly, forming each word as she spoke it. In anyone else, it might have seemed fussy, but in Beryl, it was simply a trait that accentuated the overall picture.  
  
"Great. We're great. Can't ask for more," Naru said with false cheerfulness, trying to ignore the tension and incipent violence building in the air between Beryl and Usagi. "You?"  
  
"I have no new complaints," Beryl said in that same icy tone as her gray eyes met Usagi's blue ones, each one challenging the other until Naru ground her heel onto Usagi's toe so hard that the blond winced, breaking the contest.  
  
That's good. Can't be late. 'Scuse us." Naru chirped, taking her cousin's arm in a death grip. "Now's not the time," Naru whispered as she dragged Usagi away. "The school won't overlook fighting on campus and you know it."  
  
"Mizuno...Ami. Stay a moment," Beryl said. The three guys moved around, enclosing the two women in a circle of flesh and Mercury shrank back, her back touching the wall as she struggled momentarily for control of their body with Spiderwoman.  
  
Their danger sense whispered warnings as Mercury raised their eyes to meet Beryl's. "Yes, Miss Beryl?"  
  
"Flash Kino is having a small, intimate get-together at her residence tonight. I would like you to attend as my guest." She laid her hand on Ami's shoulder and the danger sense shrieked ear piercingly loud. "You have a lot of potential, Ami. I want to help you...release it." She smiled, but the expression did not reach her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, Miss Beryl," Mercury replied. "But I must decline."  
  
"Very well," Beryl replied and the men stood aside. "I shall be rooting for you should you take the ice tonight. Good luck."  
  
"Thank you, Miss Beryl." Mercury ran off.  
  
"Look at her go," Jinnai murmured appreciatively.  
  
"Good coming and going," Zon noted.  
  
"There's something wrong," Kasuhito said. "Did you see her eyes? It was like she was someone else for just a moment."  
  
"It is of no importance," Beryl said as she swept off to class, perfect lips pursed in thought. "We have plenty of time. In the meantime, I think its time we proved our commitment. We'll do that tonight."  
  
"Nico won't like that," Zon pointed out as the trio followed. "I think he actually likes her."  
  
"Nico will understand," Beryl said. "We all do." She walked down the hall and they followed her.  
  
It was all as it should be.  
  
****  
  
As there are those in the western part of the world obsessed with all things, Japanese, there are those in Japan who were obsessed with the West. Usagi, who had more money then most, was one of those and could afford her obsession. Her room was an museum of western culture. Posters of the Beatles, Monty Python, and Mel Brooks Movies adorned her walls. Her DVD's were half shows from America, Canada and England and half from Japan. Next to her stereo was a rack of CD's from the likes of Tom Leher, Weird Al, They Might Be Giants and even several from Canadian humor band Moxy Furvous among others.  
  
Statues of Superman, Spiderman, and Batman, sat on her shelves, bookending tomes on Western films and of course, animation. Another bookshelf held works of western sciencefiction, fantasy, humor, history, Myths and legends, and surprisingly, books on theology and philosophy from both the eastern and western halves of the world. Near her desk and a work table was a stack of magazines almost as tall as Usagi herself. They ranged from science and astronomy to fashion and Japanese and American pop culture.  
  
In short, Usagi was geek.  
  
Over her bed was a giant poster of Mark Twain and taped to that in one corner was a photo of Usagi, Naru, and J. Micheal Strazincski, whose signature was scrawled across the photo. And on the bed, Luna the moon cat slept.  
  
Cats are not heavy sleepers. Even asleep, a cat's brain continues to process information received through its ears and nose. However, watching over Usagi would try the patience of a saint and Luna was no saint. She was bone tired and Usagi raising cain at the hockey game was a chance for some much needed rest.  
  
For that reason, she was completely unaware of the hockey stick until it came whistling through the air to come down on the bed. With a startled yowl, Luna leapt straight up into the air only to be shoved to the wall where she was covered with some kind of stringy gauze.  
  
"Spider webs?" Luna yelped as she saw what was holding her to the wall. "What the--AHHHHHHHHHH!" She screeched as the blade edge of the hockey stick hit the wall mere centimeters from her nose. Trembling, the Moon Cat looked up the length of the stick to see that it was being held by Usagi. The blonde was wearing an expression of cold rage and behind her, she could see Naru and Ami looking on.  
  
"Other Senshi? A Spider Guardian?" Usagi asked breathily, reaching out to stroke Luna's nose. Her fingers suddenly grabbed the cat's ear and twisted it ever so slightly. "Was there something or three that you forgot to tell me?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Luna said stiffly. "I told you when I found you that my memory was hazy.  
  
"I think that's a near complete crock of shit," Usagi shot back. "Senshi. Spider Guardian. Talk or I twist your ear right off."  
  
"You wouldn't!"  
  
"Try me," Usagi said in a voice dreadful enough to make the rocks cringe.  
  
"I only know that there are others. Fire, Water, Metal, Wood, Earth."  
  
"The Chinese Elements, yes?" Mercury said. "Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood, and Spirit. I suppose I'm water."  
  
"Correct," Luna approved.  
  
"Usagi is probably Spirit," Naru said. "That means Fire, Earth, Metal and Wood are still out there."  
  
"And why," Usagi said quietly to Luna, "did you not wish to share this information earlier?"  
  
"Because you needed to be taught a lesson. You're not as clever as you think you are, Usagi and that's going to backfire on you one day."  
  
"If it does it does," Usagi said. "And what about the Spider Guardian?"  
  
"I don't know anything about a Spider Guardian!" Luna said and then her eyes widened as Usagi reached for her ear! "Nothing! I know nothing!"  
  
"Who's shouting?" Asked a new voice. The girl's turned to see Shingo Tuskino standing in the doorway of Usagi's room. Younger then Usagi by a few years, Shingo was obviously taking after their father. He wore a dress shirt and tie, black slacks, sensible shoes and a white lab coat. "I am attempting to assist Father in his calculations and the noise is distracting."  
  
"Father's here?" Usagi asked. "Well that's a surprise. After a year and a half, I was starting to wonder if he'd forgotten where he lived."  
  
"Yes," Shingo replied. "And if you were not so absorbed in your," he paused and looked scathingly at the poster of Mark Twain. "Hobby, you would have noticed his car in the garage when Koyua brought you home." He slammed the door shut.  
  
"Kouya?" Mercury asked curiously.  
  
"Driver. Actually, he's my keeper." Usagi shrugged. "Well, mine and Shingo's. I bribe Kouya to keep his mouth shut and then Naru and I walk to school. But Shingo's busy sucking up to Dad, so he takes the car. I go with him as a far as Naru's and then supposedly, I ride with her. His school lets out earlier, so he usually gets home first." Usagi dug in her closet and pulled out a conservative skirt and blouse.  
  
"Shingo doesn't notice Kouya unless he needs a ride so he's clueless that Usagi has been breaking the rules for the past eighteen months," Naru put in as Usagi began changing clothes. "Koyua gets paid more and works less, Usagi has her freedom and Shingo doesn't have his world shattered by the knowledge that your legs can take you places outside the house. Everyone wins."  
  
"How do I look?" Usagi asked Naru. "Proper enough?"  
  
"Yeah. Should I change?"  
  
"Nah. The two of you can get away with school uniforms." She walked over to Mercury. "Ami's never been here and Father won't know her. Just be calm and keep your answers short and to the point if he talks to you. Oh, and keep your emotions under control and off your face." She studied Mercury. "I don't suppose you could let Ami handle this."  
  
"Ami is asleep," Mercury replied as the trio left the room. "She was having trouble dealing with what Spiderwoman had done--she holds herself responsible--so I put her to sleep and have been holding Spiderwoman back."  
  
"What's it like?" Naru said. "Being three different people, I mean?"  
  
"We're not all that different, actually," Mercury replied. "We all share certain traits and quirks. Spiderwoman and I are aspects of Ami. Spiderwoman represents Ami's dark side. Her rage, anger, determination, sense of responsibility for her actions...like the ones that led to Gendo's death." Mercury wiped away a tear.  
  
"You miss him." Naru said.  
  
"More then we could describe," Mercury replied. "Ami is...well, the light side. Love, joy, conscience, friendship. I am intellect. But until Ami wakes up, we are...incomplete."  
  
Naru squeezed Mercury's shoulder. "It will all work out. Trust me."  
  
****  
  
Kenji Tuskino was a lanky, athletic man with short hair and wire-rimmed glasses. His movements were purposeful and wasted very little energy.  
  
The danger sense sang a gentle warning as soon as Mercury entered the room just down the hall from Usagi's bedroom. It was very neat, very tidy. Clean, almost severe in the organization. Photograpsh decorated the walls.  
  
"Welcome home, Father," Usagi said. She did not bow and her tone was just shy of disrespect.  
  
"Uncle Kenji," Naru said, offering a bow.  
  
"Daughter, niece," he paused and looked inquiringly at Mercury.  
  
"Ami Mizuno," Mercury said, bowing her head. "Pleased to meet you."  
  
"Mizuno...as in Doctor Akane Mizuno?"  
  
"My mother."  
  
"Your mother was a brilliant doctor and a fine woman," Kenji said. He sounded sincere but her danger sense argued otherwise. Mercury wasn't sure which to believe. "I read her papers, remarkable."  
  
'He lies,' Spiderwoman said.  
  
"Daughter," Kenji said to Usagi. "I contacted your school when I returned to Japan. They tell me you're a class officer and your grade point average is commendable. Congratulations."  
  
"Thank you, Father." Usagi said.  
  
Kenji turned back to whatever he had been working on and the trio took that as their cue to leave.  
  
"Hey, Naru? Buckstar's should still be open, ya wanna go grab some mochas or whatever?"  
  
"Naturally."  
  
"Merc?"  
  
"No. Spiderwoman has work to do. But thank you."  
  
They parted company at the estate's front gate.  
  
****  
  
She was flying.  
  
With a cry, Ami flailed her arms and then found herself being held gently in someone's arms. Looking up, she saw Mercury smiling at her.  
  
"Welcome back," Mercury said. "We missed you." Ami glanced down again and whimpered. "You're perfectly safe," Mercury said and pointed. "See?" Turning to look, Ami saw that they were following Spiderwoman as she swung them across Tokyo.  
  
"Murderer." Ami said, the shock and horror returning in a rush.  
  
"Yes," Mercury agreed. "She did kill. Did. Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by that." She stared into Ami's eyes, that cool clear gaze somehow holding the panic at bay. "We regret what we did and we will never take another human life. But by the same token, neither can we turn ourselves in. Aunt Mai would die of shame. We will atone for our sins another way. We have a responsibility to do so."  
  
"But..." Ami said, even though in her heart, she knew that Mercury was right. "Grandpa... he said we're dangerous."  
  
"Grandpa is entitled to his opinions. But he is not us. We have to do this, Ami. For Gendo's sake. You understand, right? For Gendo."  
  
Ami nodded. "For Gendo."  
  
"For Gendo," Spiderwoman and Mercury said together.  
  
It was as they crossed back into Juuban that the danger sense shrieked and Spiderwoman lost their grip. Instinctively, she straightened their body and fired a webline at the corner of an apartment building and they swung down and up in a low arc that flung them up and over to land on a crouch in the roof.  
  
'What was that?' Ami asked.  
  
'It came as we passed this building,' Mercury replied.  
  
"It's coming from this building," Spiderwoman said and began crawling down the side. She had gone no more then two stories when Ami realized something.  
  
'This is the Akkona. Flash lives here.'  
  
'And Beryl invited us to a get together at Flash's place tonight,' Mercury said.  
  
Spiderwoman crawled along until they came to the right window and peered inside.  
  
'Good Lord,' Mercury said as Ami blushed.  
  
Inside, on the bed, naked at the day they were born, Beryl, Nico, Jinnai, Zon, and Katsuhito all writhed together and at the center of that mass of limbs was Flash. The amazonian's hands and mouth seemed to be everywhere as she received the quintet's efforts and gave back plenty as well.  
  
'My, she's...enthusiastic,' Mercury noted. On the bed, Flash moved into a new position. 'And flexible too.'  
  
"Whatever," Spiderwoman said and turned to go only to stop as Mercury narrowed their eyes.'No. This is where the threat is.'  
  
"Copulation is hardly a threat to us," Spiderwoman said.  
  
'That would depend. It may be that this is the starting point.'  
  
'Like...some kind of...'  
  
'Dark Ritual? Yes, Ami.' Mercury surveyed the room. 'This feels like the Youma we've encountered...we'll have to call Usagi.'  
  
"We don't need her," Spiderwoman objected. "We don't even need to be here. Why should we care about what happens to Flash?"  
  
'We promised,' Ami said. 'We dedicated ourselves to seeking out and stopping those who would harm others for profit, amusement, and evil. Remember?'  
  
'Logically, whatever in there threatens us, also threatens those we swore to protect. Those people include Flash Kino.'  
  
Spiderwoman growled, but she stopped trying to make them leave.  
  
'Good.' Mercury approved. 'Where is our cell phone?'  
  
'In the clothes bundle we left secured to the Oiya Tower roof,' Ami said.  
  
'There must be another way,' Mercury said. A drop of water fell from a ventilation shaft and plopped on their hand. 'Eh?'  
  
Spiderwoman lifted their hand and they stared at the clear drop.  
  
"It's a water drop," Spiderwoman said. "So?" She started to shake it off.  
  
'No,' Mercury said. 'Wait.' They could feel her concentrating, reaching out. Before their eyes, the drop seemed to come to life, twisting itself into a different shape. 'Intriguing.'  
  
Spiderwoman then reached out and the drop became a different shape. Then Ami changed it again.  
  
Then they reached out and their perception of the world seemed to change. The water vapor in the very air was visible to them. Perceivable in a new and different way. They could see the very vapor in the air, see the water flowing through the climate control systems and pipes of the surrounding buildings. Within the buildings, they could see the people working late by the water in their bodies. The water was just waiting for their command.  
  
'You do it, Ami,' Mercury said.  
  
Ami did it.  
  
****  
  
Usagi raised her cup to take a drink and then stopped. "Naru?"Naru turned the page of the magazine she was reading.  
  
"Yo."  
  
"Have I come in contact with any halluconengenic or mind-altering substances lately?"  
  
Naru shrugged. "You mean besides the school's cafeteria food? No."  
  
Usagi considered that for a moment. "Then why am I seeing Ami's face in my iced mocha?"  
  
"Because you're an acid junkie," Naru replied without missing a beat.  
  
"Usagi, we need you," Ami said. "Come to the Akkona apartment building."  
  
"Apparently, so am I," Naru said. "I heard that."  
  
****  
  
A pebble bounced off of their heel. Looking up, they saw Sailor Moon leaning over the edge of the roof. Spiderwoman fired a webline and Sailor Moon slid down to join them headfirst with little apparent concern for life and limb.  
  
"So what's up?" Sailor Moon asked as she peered into the window. "Oh wow. You guys should have--hooooooooolyyyy....Is that Flash? And Beryl? and four guys? That...oh wow. Good thing I brought my camera."  
  
Her skill growing by the minute, Spiderwoman laid their fingertips on the window and the water vapor in the air carried the sound in the room out to them.  
  
With one mighty collective groan, the encounter ended and Flash collapsed on the bed.  
  
"No wonder the French call it la petite mort," Beryl said. "She does look almost dead, doesn't she?"  
  
"Told you," Nico said, lighting a cigarette. "Practically insatiable. Nearly kills me every time."  
  
"A shame the frequency she's been having these...interludes has been degrading her athletic performance," Beryl said. "Still, I'm sure Mizuno will prove an adequate replacement."  
  
"It was fun," Kasuhito said. "But Mettalia doesn't require this sort of thing. Why bother?"  
  
"Why should we forsake the pleasures of the flesh?" Beryl asked. "Its not as though she'll need it now." She walked to where her school uniform was laid out on a chair and removed a large knife from her bag.  
  
"Hold on," Nico said. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Mettalia requires proof of our commitment. This human's life energy shall be that proof."  
  
"But why her? Why not that Tuskino girl you hate so much?"  
  
"Usagi will get hers in time, Nico. Jinnai told us she is Sailor Moon, our ancient enemy. Let her continue in her ignorance for now. Eventually, we will deal with her and I shall take pleasure in personally taking her life energy."  
  
"No. Pick someone else." Nico was all but pleading now. Beryl gestured contemptuously and Nico flew backwards, hitting the wall hard enough that Spiderwoman and Sailor Moon could feel the impact from outside.  
  
"Hear me, Queen Mettalia, ruler of Shadows, Lady of Darkness," Beryl intoned, raising her knife high. Kasuhito, Zon, and Jinnai closed their eyes and began to chant in a strange language. Unnoticed by them, on the bed, Flash opened her eyes and they widened as they saw the knife. "I, Beryl, your Queen here on Earth and loyal servant, offer up this life force in your name as proof that we honor our bargain."  
  
Flash Kino was many things, but she wasn't stupid. She had, after all, gotten into Juuban Academy, made it to the top of the sports leagues and done so without ever letting anyone realize that her parents were dead. How could you do that without having brains? Okay, so she liked a good screw, and maybe she did it more often then she should, but damnit, she'd earned some fun.  
  
She stared up at the knife, comprehension slowly dawning. These fuckers were some kind of nuts.  
  
That's when the window shattered and two figures came in.  
  
"Ding dong! Senshi calling!" yelled one of the figures as they landed on the carpet and then leapt at the knife. The other one began throwing punches left and right, scattering the others. Then Nico was leaping across the bed and diving at somebody.  
  
A cold burning sensation appeared on Flash's forehead as she struggled to get up. Nobody carved up Flash Kino without a fight, damnit! She felt something placed into her hand and then a voice whispered in her ear. "Jupiter Power Make-up."  
  
The fight had moved out of the sleeping area and was raging in the living area. The odds were four on three with Spiderwoman fighting two at once. She, Nico, and Sailor Moon were almost back to back, and the other four were closing in.  
  
"Supreme Thunder!" A voice shouted and white hot lighting ripped through the room. Standing the doorway was a tall young woman dressed in green and white. Her green eyes were filled with rage and she held a short sword in one hand. "Carve me up like a fuckin turkey will ya?" She demanded and electricity arced along the sword blade.  
  
Sailor Moon gaped. "She's a Senshi?! BWAH HA HA HA HA!" She doubled over laughing, hands clutching her sides.  
  
"Who?" Beryl asked and then smiled. "No matter. You can't defeat us without all five, Sailor Moon, and you'll be dead before you can gather them all." Then she and the four men vanished.  
  
There was a pounding on the door and shouted voices.  
  
"I'd say that's our cue to leave," Sailor Moon said and ran into the sleeping area.  
  
"But where--who--what?" The person who had been Flash Kino only moments before stared helplessly as the blonde in the trenchcoat pulled a camera from what looked like spider's webbing.  
  
"We're friends, we're headed out there, and unless you want to explain this mess to your landlord, you'd probably better come with us and pretend you weren't home." The woman in red and blue had already disappeared. "Grab some clothes and meet us at the Buckstar's by the Crown Cafe in ten minutes. Later." With that, the trench coated woman slipped out the window and clambered up some kind of rope.  
  
****  
  
Flash, dressed in pants, a t-shirt and soft shoes stepped into the Buckstar's, one hand in the pocket where she fingered the strange pen that had been given to her. Her wallet and keys had both been undamaged in whatever the hell had happened.  
  
"Yoo-hoo! Oh, Kiiiiiiinoooooooo!" Flash looked and saw Tuskino, Mizuno and Tsukino's sidekick Okasa sitting at an isolated booth. Tuskino was waving her fingers and grinning like a demented chimpanzee.  
  
Great, what the hell were they--it felt as though she had been punched in the gut as realization dawned.  
  
"Aw, fuck..." Flash said to herself. 


	6. Friends By Any Means Necessacary

"I don't need a slogan to say who I am. I also know the meaning of irony." - Written on a T-shirt  
  
"...And then we saw you," Usagi finished as she toyed with the handle of her glass. 'You kicked their ass and then we bugged out."  
  
Makoto "Flash" Kino stared at her, mouth agape for a few moments before she found her voice. "You're crazy."  
  
"Probably," Usagi admitted without turning a hair. "But since it's the crazy people who change the world, I figure there's not much to worry about." She stared into her glass as though looking for any last drops. "What interests me is why you were doing a six way with The Bitch and her yes men."  
  
Flash stared at her. "You think I'm going to tell you anything, Tsukino? I damn near got my guts ripped out tonight and then I find out that I've been dropped into some twisted parody of Pretty Sammy. No fuckin way." Usagi held up a camera, the message was clear. "All right," Flash snapped. She stared at the table. "I'm...I'm an adrenaline junkie. I need thrills, excitement. I have to feel alive, hold back the pain. So when Nico suggested a six way with Beryl and the others, I said yes, y'know? I had no idea about the knife. Nico set me up, the bastard." Her fingers tightened around the glass.  
  
"Actually, he protested," Usagi said. "And he fought the others. Interesting, no?" Makoto scowled. "In any case," Usagi continued, "the important thing is that the four of us are in this together. You, me, and Ami are magical girls and Beryl is our enemy, or rather, works for our enemy. I doubt she she could mastermind her way out of the shreds of a paper bag with a map, a guide rope and a GPS device."  
  
"Don't misjudge her," Flash said. "She's smart, scary smart."  
  
"Please," Usagi said. "She's a spoiled bimbo who at best can walk and chew gum at the same time. She ate paste in preschool, did you know that?"  
  
"You ate paste too," Naru said. Usagi ignored that as a nearby waitress cleared her throat meaningfully. Usagi nodded and tossed a wad of yen bills on the table as she stood up. "I'll cover it. Keep the change as a tip," she said to the waitress.  
  
Flash glanced at the bills as she rose. There was at least three times the cost of their drinks there. "Damn."  
  
****  
  
When they returned to the Akkona, they found it surrounded by police and fire trucks.  
  
"'Scuse me," Flash said, elbowing her way through the crowd with Ami, Usagi, and Naru close behind. "I live there, ya mind?"  
  
"Makoto!" Ami jerked Usagi and Naru out of the way as a giant moving ball of rioting colors exploded from the crowd and enveloped Flash. "Oh you poor dear, they said they couldn't find you anywhere in the building and here you are safe and sound." Now that it had stopped moving, Usagi and the others could see that it was actually an tall, enormously fat--the minds of the three balked at calling it a woman--thing in a kimono of neon bright colors. Its makeup was caked on and its hair was a bright blue. Its voice had a deep booming qaulity. "Everyone wants to talk to you, even the TV stations."  
  
Wrapping an arm around Flash's shoulders in a grip that it would take a prybar to remove, the creature pushed Flash towards where the lights of the TV cameras waited. Usagi and Naru followed them, both wearing amused smiles. Ami walked with them, her expression curious.  
  
"Here she is!" The thing boomed. "This is the girl whose apartment was trashed. Lives alone most of the time, poor thing. Thank the gods she wasn't home tonight."  
  
The reporters began shouting questions and Flash's face took on an expression of sheer terror as she began to stammer.  
  
"She's having quite a bad night," Usagi said. "Think we should step in?"  
  
"Maybe," Naru said speculativly. "What do you think it would be worth to her?"  
  
"I was thinking more along the lines of a karma thing."  
  
"Oh I supppose. You want to do it? You're better at the whole dealing with the public thing."  
  
"Chicken," Usagi said and ran a hand through her hair before clasped her hands behind her back and exaggeratedly slipped in front of Flash and the thing and held up her hand. The reporters fell silent immeditly.  
  
"Freaky, aint it?" Naru whispered to Ami. "Uncle Kenji does the same thing. Its like some kind of weird reporter mind control."  
  
"Miss Kino was in the company of myself, my cousin and one of her teammates alll night celebrating a sports victory. Any questions regarding the incident should be directed to building management or the local koban," Usagi said in one breath. "Thank you." Without batting an eye, she somehow freed Flash from the thing's grip and led her back to towards the building. Behind them, the reporters began shouting questions again.  
  
"Ignore them," Usagi hissed. "Don't look back, don't give any sign that you hear them."  
  
"You lied?" Flash asked. "For me?"  
  
"Would you have rather I told them the truth?" Usagi asked. "That you did a six way with cultists and would be dead by now had not Sailor Moon and Spiderwoman--who just happen to be myself and Ami there--saved your ass?"  
  
"Don't take that tone with me, Tsukino. I'm one these...Senshi too. We're teammates. Show me some respect."  
  
"That reminds me," Usagi said. "From now on, you're going to be showing Ami a lot of respect. In fact, you're going to be her friend or I'll see to it that every student and teacher at Juuban gets a picture of your recent bukkake party impression."  
  
"You can't blackmail me."  
  
"I just did." Usagi clapped Flash on the back. "Think of it as good karma. Makes it easier to swallow."  
  
****  
  
The Next Day....  
  
Usagi hummed happily to herself as she changed back into her school uniform after gym class. She was extremely proud of herself. She had ended Ami's suffering, gotten Flash Kino under her thumb, and beaten the four minute mile today. "Not bad, Usagi, you wacky wabbit," she said to her reflection in the door mirror. "Not bad at all." She gave herself an ego-boosting grin and went to close the door when the smell of perfume reached her nostrils. "Beryl," she snarled under her breath.  
  
"Hello, Usagi."  
  
"Hi, Beryl. Go to Hell." Usagi shut the locker door and turned to see Beryl sitting on the bench, legs crossed.  
  
"Usagi, please, we're older now. Let us speak of adult things. This feud of ours, for instance. I think its time to end it."  
  
"Great. Kill yourself."  
  
Beryl ignored that. "Usagi, do you even remember what this feud is about? We've been fighting for so long it's insane. I want there to be peace. I want us to join forces. I'm here on Mettalia's behalf and on my own to extend the hand of friendship."  
  
"Mettalia can kiss my ass," Usagi shot back. "I don't play well with idiots and certainly not anyone who would choose you as an agent. You're barely worth my time."  
  
"Don't underestimate my mistress, Tsukino."  
  
"Oh I don't, Beryl. In fact, I'm taking this Mettalia very seriously. It's you I could care less about. In fact, go tell Mettalia that I don't do bisinuess with lackeys. If she wants to make me an offer, she can come and talk to me herself. I'm easy enough to find. Think you can remember all that or would you like me to write it down in single syllable words?"  
  
"Is this your choice, then?" In one move, Beryl was on her feet, towering over Usagi by several inches. "We'll break you, Tsukino. That's a promise."  
  
Usagi stared up at Beryl and then, without changing expression, spat onto Beryl's shirt. "Go ahead and break me then." With that, Usagi left the room.  
  
Beryl stared at the doorway to the locker room and then glanced down at the wad of spittle on her shirt. It peeled off her shirt and dissipated.  
  
"Shall we gut her for you, Mistress?" whispered a voice in the stillness of the locker room.  
  
"No," Beryl said. "No. Usagi's arrogance will be her undoing. For now, we wait. Return to the Sanctum until I summon you."  
  
****  
  
He sighed as he tightened the last bolt on his new flying machine. The "broomstick" had been a great tool, but the controls were simply far too impractical for battle. This new design was much better. Rather then hand controls, the craft was now controled by a simple combination of movements, weight shifting and synaptic control for the on-board weapons. It even was shaped to look like a demonic bat, a touch he was rather proud of. Carefully cleaning and storing his tools, he began to wipe the grease and dirt off his hands and as he did, his eyes fell on the copy of the Tokyo Bugle lying draped over the lathe. He'd been dubbed the "Green Goblin" and he was honest enough with himself to admit that he rather liked the name. Even if if had been coined by that gaijin Jameson.  
  
Unfortunutly, Jameson represented the power of the press and that made him a force to be reckoned with, gaijin or no. For now though, he decided to leave Jameson well enough alone. He might even be useful somewhere down the line.  
  
He glanced at the clock and finished cleaning up. From the locker, he quickly dressed in a suit and tie and removed the folder of papers for the meeting he was almost late for. A cursory glance in the mirror and he stepped through the concealed entrance and into the inner portion of his office, his private sanctuary. He spared a thought for Spiderwoman. He'd chosen erronously in Sailor Moon. She was far too much of a law-abider, however she dressed. But anyone who would choose a spider for their name, well, perhaps there was something there he could use.  
  
Soon, he would rule the Tokyo underworld. Every King needed a queen.  
  
"Good Afternoon, Sir," his assistant said, rising from his desk in the outer office. "I've gathered the data you requested. Also, several board members have registered their displeasure with the notion of buying out a kimono conglomerate. They feel that it detracts, rather then adds, to the cartel's image."  
  
Kenji Tsukino smiled and clapped the young man on the back. "Bisiness must expand or suffocate," he said. "Much like humans. We require growth in some fashion. To be otherwise, is death."  
  
****  
  
"You need a new name."  
  
Ami blinked at the chopsticks just an inch from her nose. A single grain of rice clung to the end of one of the sticks. At the other end of the chopsticks was Usagi, who was staring across the circular table at Ami Also at the table was Naru and Flash, an addition Ami still wasn't sure she liked. She kept a steady eye on Flash and never let the other girl get behind her.  
  
The four were seated at the Mall's food court, having lunch. Shopping bags were piled around them and they were barely halfway done.  
  
"I don't understand," Ami said. "I already have a name."  
  
"No, your other name. Spiderwoman doesn't cut it anymore."  
  
"Neither does Sailor Mercury," Naru chimed in.  
  
"Then what?" Ami asked.  
  
"I..." Usagi cocked her head. "Do not...know..."  
  
Flash let out an exasperated breath. "Hey, Tsukino. I got a question for ya."  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"Your dad's a bigshot business guy. So how come you walk around without worrying one bit about being kidnapped or something?"  
  
Usagi's face split in a big grin. "Because either A, I have a clan of ninjas for bodyguards. B, All the people I'd have to worry about are scared of me. C, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Usagi Tsukino actually attends an exclusive school in England while poor me (who has the same name as Usagi thanks to a mistake at the hospital) is little more then the poor bastard love child whom Kenji Tsukino feels some sort of obligation to raise properly. Besides, I make a great decoy. Or D, I'm lying through my teeth for my own amusement at you trying to figure out if I'm lying or not." She gathered up a mouthful of rice with her chopsticks. "Pick one," she said and ate the rice, her face never losing the grin.  
  
Flash stared at her. "I'm going to go with D," she said.  
  
"Bingo, you win the prize," Usagi said airily.  
  
"What surprise?" Flash demanded.  
  
"Pineapple," Naru said with a straight face and then both she and Usagi broke into snickers.  
  
Flash glared at them. She had believed the rumors that Usagi was insane, but having actually spent time with her, Flash was now more inclined to believe that Usagi wasn't so much insane as she simply didn't bother with thinking. Her apparent maniacal behavior wasn't insanity so much as she simply rolled with whatever her hyperactive brain churned out. Furthermore, Usagi wasn't conversant with the phrase "consequences of actions" because she simply had never had to deal with them before. Always, the Tsukino family name had shielded her.  
  
Flash's lips twitched into a smile. When the hell had she gotten so introspective or whatever the word was? Flash exhaled and returned her attention to the world around her. Usagi was simply random, was all.  
  
Using straws, Usagi was attempting to make a portrait of Yagu Jubei and seemed to be arguing with it as she did.  
  
Then again, maybe Usagi *was* insane.... 


	7. There's Something About Makoto

"The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense." -- Tom Clancy  
  
Ami and Naru sat in Study Hall in an isolated corner of the library watching as Usagi attempted to build a house of cards using only telekinesis.  
  
At least, that was what it looked she was doing. With Usagi, it could be anything.  
  
At that point, a copy of the Bugle slid on to the table as Flash joined them, knocking over the cards that had been already standing.  
  
"Nico's dead," Flash said, tapping the paper. "Some bum found him in the park this morning, near the fountain."  
  
"It says here that there was no sign of violence," Naru said, taking the paper and scanning the article. "He was just lying there. Dead, but otherwise unharmed. Freaky."  
  
****  
  
Beryl smiled as she walked around her new General. She hadn't expected the conditioning to take so little time, but she hadn't realized how much resentment and buried anger there was. There was quite a bit of it. Jealousy too. All buried, but there, and therefore, usable.  
  
"The Senshi won't know what hit them," Beryl said to Kasuhito, Jinnai and Zon, who stood nearby. Or rather, Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite, her Lord Generals. "Isn't that right, General Magnetite?"  
  
General Magnetite smiled, it was not a pleasant expression.  
  
****  
  
Night had fallen.  
  
In the park, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, and Spiderwoman stood next to the fountain. There were still signs of the police having been there. Yellow tape, chalk dust covered string on the ground outlining the body, the usual.  
  
Crouching in the grass, Sailor Moon, deerstalker cap on her head, took out a magnifying glass and a flashlight and peered at the grass.  
  
"I deduce, Doctor Watson," she said, "that what we have here is nothing less then freshly tended grass."  
  
"Who?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"Sherlock Holmes," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"No, Doctor Watson," Jupiter corrected.  
  
"I..." Sailor Moon trailed off and stared at the blank look on Jupiter's face. "You have got to be kidding..."  
  
"What?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"Oh do I have some work to do," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"Oh," Jupiter said when Sailor Moon had finished explaining about Holmes. "He sounds like a real putz."  
  
"Putz? He was the greatest detective of all time!"  
  
"Some great detective. From what you tell me, his nemesis was a friggin math teacher. A math teacher! What's so great about getting your ass handed to you by a math teacher?"  
  
I..." Sailor Moon stared at Jupiter. "You worry me, madam," she said archly.  
  
"Bout time somebody did," Jupiter responded. "Hey, what's Ami doing?"  
  
"I told you," Sailor Moon said turning to see what Jupiter was looking at. "We don't use our real names when we're out as Senshi, it's a bench. Why is she staring at a bench?"  
  
Indeed, Ami was wearing her civilian clothes and was staring at one of the benches that ringed the fountain. As they watched, Ami's head bowed, and her shoulders began to shake. Soft sobbing sounds reached their ears.  
  
"Ami?" Sailor Moon asked, going over to her and laying a head on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Ami looked at her, blue eyes red from crying. "This is where I last saw Gendo," she whispered. "W-we fought. He . . . he wanted me to stop being friends with you . . . said you were a bad influence."  
  
'Thanks for the compliment, Shinnie," Sailor Moon thought to herself, but wisely did not say that out loud.  
  
"You bastard!" Ami shrieked, lunging forward and kicking the bench, her clothes becoming the Spiderwoman costume, causing Sailor Moon's mouth to drop open. Ami had not touched the armband to don her costume, but rather, she had seemed to ripple, and there it was. "Why did you leave me?"  
  
The bench itself flew off its bolts, sending bits of concrete every which way, and arcing through the air to bounce and skid across the concrete path.  
  
Spiderwoman darted forward, picking up the bench. Again, she rippled and there Sailor Mercury stood. She screamed, a wail of grief and rage that seemed to be beyond the power of any human throat. It was a scream that reached down into the soul, jerked things off the wall and made them writhe. Then, she hurled the bench at the fountain.  
  
"Shit!" Jupiter cried and tackled Sailor Moon at the knees, knocking her to the ground as the bench sailed through the air where Sailor Moon's head had been.  
  
The bench collided with the fountain, denting the steel hard enough to lodge in there and shattering the ceramic tiles.  
  
"Kuso . . ." Sailor Moon breathed.  
  
Spiderwoman screamed that horrible scream again, and then fired a web-line into the trees, leaping away into the park.  
  
"Fuckin A," Jupiter said.  
  
"After her!" Sailor Moon cried as she leapt to her feet and charged off into the woods.  
  
"I deserve a damn medal," Jupiter said, and took off after Sailor Moon.  
  
"I was bluffing, I was bluffing, God, I was bluffing," Sailor Moon was saying when Jupiter caught up to her.  
  
"Bluffing?"  
  
"Spiderwoman's a killer!" Sailor Moon panted. "Remember when the Jet Hurl got trashed?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Right before that, there was an attempted rape. Spiderwoman stopped it by killing the rapists. Turned their heads into strawberry jam. I told her that if she ever killed again, I'd expose her to the entire city."  
  
Jupiter frowned. She was vaguely aware that Ami was a looney, that is, was three different people in one body, but beyond that, she had lost interest.  
  
"So far," Sailor Moon continued, "she's been good, but Gendo's a touchy subject."  
  
"Who? Oh, the blond sword kid. Isn't he dead?"  
  
"Yeah. Spiderwoman came about because Ami feels guilty that she ran rather than standing her ground."  
  
They skidded to a stop. In a clearing, two teens sat, staring at a body lying on the ground. The teens, both girls, held onto each other and shook with fright.  
  
"What the hell?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Some crazy woman!" One of the teens gasped. "That guy was going to rape us. She leapt out of the trees, beat him to a pulp and then took off, screaming the whole time."  
  
"She was hot though," the second girl added. "That red and blue suit was totally formfitting."  
  
"He's alive, barely," Jupiter said, examining the rapist's body. "I suppose that's a good thing."  
  
"Get out of here," Sailor Moon said to the teens. "Find a phone, call the police."  
  
The two teens nodded and stood up. "She went that way," one of them said, pointing.  
  
"Thanks," Sailor Moon said. "C'mon, Jupes."  
  
"'Jupes'?" Jupiter repeated as she ran after Sailor Moon.  
  
Zoisite stripped off his disguise and looked at Kunzite. "That went well," he said.  
  
"Indeed," Kunzite replied, removing his own disguise. "'She was hot'?"  
  
"I was into the role."  
  
Kunzite gave Zoisite a withering glance and then they both looked at Jadeite, who was sitting up, the bruises fading. "Did it work?" Jadeite asked.  
  
"We'll know soon enough," Kunzite said. "Magnetite did say that the Senshi would remember this night for a long time."  
  
****  
  
A layer of asphalt flew up as both Senshi skidded out of the park and turned north. Horns honked as they crossed the street by jumping from car roof to car roof, leapt onto awnings and onto the rooftops.  
  
"Which way?"  
  
Sailor Moon pondered. Pacing back and forth, trying to think. "Scum, she wants to punish scum. Scum scum scum high crime--Shinjuku!"  
  
****  
  
The Green Goblin watched silently as Spiderwoman took out yet another petty thug, all the while screaming a horrible scream. The Goblin had yet to make himself known, content to watch her dispatching small time operators. The police radio built into his mask informed him that only just now, the police were arriving at the first call, at the edge of Shinjuku.  
  
It appeared that Spiderwoman had a death wish. She had cut a straight line into the district, leaving behind a bloody trail. She had yet to kill anyone--pity--but she didn't seem to care about getting killed. Idly, he wondered what had set her off.  
  
"Entertaining, isn't it?" asked someone behind him.  
  
Goblin whipped around, the flying craft responding instantly. Sitting on the chimney was a sensuous redhead in a form-fitting dress and a black crown. A crystal orb topped her scepter and she was watching him with a smile on her face. Her eyes held the promise of unearthly delights and forbidden knowledge.  
  
Curious, the Goblin moved closer, sensing that he was looking at a kindred spirit.  
  
"My name is Beryl," she purred. "You are the Green Goblin?"  
  
"I am."  
  
"I have a proposition for you."  
  
****  
  
Even Senshi had their limits and finally, both Sailor Moon and Jupiter collapsed on an air conditioner. It was almost midnight, and they had gone back and forth across Shinjuku, finding plenty of places where Spiderwoman had been, but unable to locate her.  
  
Both girls were thoroughly winded. Sailor Moon had shed her leather trench, sending it back to wherever the senshi outfits went and still sweat poured off of her.  
  
Jupiter, who often spent half the day every day doing grueling physical exercise, was hardly better.  
  
"How . ..the hell . . . does she . . . move so fast?" Jupiter demanded between gasps for air.  
  
"Spider powers," Sailor Moon gasped back. "It must be. Gad, her endurance and stamina are off the charts."  
  
"Does she get tired?"  
  
"Let's hope so." Sailor Moon took a deep breath and forced herself to stand. "Let's keep moving. If we stay here much longer we won't be able to get moving again."  
  
"Who picked me to be a Senshi?" Jupiter said as she too stood up. "I wanna smack 'em."  
  
****  
  
Get them. Get them all. No one goes unpunished.  
  
Spiderwoman moved across the city. Vaguely, she was aware of voices in her head yelling at her, of her body protesting.  
  
She ignored it. She ignored it all.  
  
Get the scum. Must get the scum.  
  
Gendo . . .  
  
****  
  
The big digital clock proclaimed two in the morning, when Jupiter finally collapsed on a scaffolding. She and Sailor Moon were in the Entertainment district where the buildings on either side of the main street were topped with miniature skyscrapers of neon signs. The scaffolding itself was for maintenance workers.  
  
"No more," Jupiter said. "I can't take another step."  
  
Sailor Moon leaned against the sign, its heat soothing aching muscles. "If I ever get access to a time machine," she vowed. "Or even the chance to travel through time, the first thing I will do is go kick Gendo's ass for putting Ami through this hell. I don't care if the fate of the cosmos hangs in the balance, I am going back in time to kick that kid's ass."  
  
Jupiter made a noise to demonstrate agreement. It wasn't as though she could do anything else.  
  
Finally, after several minutes, Jupiter recovered enough to sit up.  
  
"Fuck secrets," Jupiter said. "I say we drag Ami to a psychiatrist. Let them put her back together."  
  
"My dad sent me to one once," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"Yeah? What happened?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I was explaining my theory of time-traveling hippo and penguin alien invaders from another planet in a parallel dimension when he suddenly started screaming and then hurled himself out the window. Granted, I was talking very fast and double-talking while I was at it, so maybe he was little confused."  
  
"Let me guess, you would have only been too happy to explain, had he asked."  
  
"In triple-talk, of course."  
  
"Of course." Jupiter voice was filled with sarcasm. "Look," Ami's probably worked her angst out by now. I say we go home."  
  
"I can't," Sailor Moon replied. "Ami's my friend. I won't turn my back on my friends."  
  
"Look at you . . . hell, look at me. We're both exhausted, probably beyond exhausted. It's two damn something in the fucking morning, and the person we've been trying to find has made like Casper and vanished."  
  
Sailor Moon reached over and grabbed the front of Jupiter's fuku, pulling her close. Her blue eyes blazed and she seemed to have fangs as she snarled, her voice seeming to take on an otherworldly echo. "We're not going home until we find her!" She gave Jupiter a cheerful smile. "Okay?" she chirped.  
  
"Okay," Jupiter squeaked and extracted her fuku from Sailor Moon's grip. "All I'm saying is, we don't know where she is and we're running ourselves to death going all over the city trying to find her. We need a plan."  
  
"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Sailor Moon sat down next to Jupiter. "I'm just worried about her."  
  
"You two are pretty tight then?"  
  
Sailor Moon shrugged. "She doesn't care that I have more money then most small countries. That means a lot."  
  
Jupiter watched the street below. "I guess I owe her an apology. I've been a real bitch to her . . . I couldn't help it . . . I hated her--" Jupiter cut herself off. "Never mind."  
  
"Do my ears deceive me?" Sailor Moon asked. "You're really sorry?"  
  
"Yeah." Jupiter sighed. "Yeah I am. Go figure, huh?"  
  
"Think fast," Sailor Moon said and tossed a camera at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Take a look at the lens."  
  
Jupiter peered closely at the lens. A crack ran across it and in it's depths, she saw more cracks.  
  
"It took a hit while we were saving you. The film got fried by light. All the pictures are gone."  
  
"But . . . why..." Jupiter stared at her as she suddenly realized how she had been manipulated into being friends with Ami . . . at the same time, relief flooded through her that she could go back to her old life and . . .  
  
And what?  
  
Lonely days filled with nothing but school, games, and shallow jocks who only cared about her because she getting them glory? She was only too well aware that the only reason her freakish size was ignored was because she was useful to the team and to the school.  
  
But for the past month, she had . . . well, be honest, she had grown to like hanging out with Usagi and Naru. And Ami wasn't too bad . . . but she had been forced into it.  
  
And all things considered, the end result wasn't too bad, was it?  
  
Jupiter stared at the camera for what seemed like hours, then her eyes closed as her fingers crushed the camera.  
  
"Thanks," she said quietly.  
  
Sailor Moon grinned. "I never turn my back on my friends."  
  
Jupiter stared at her. "One question. What did you have on Ami?"  
  
"Her hair. It's actually mauve. She dyes it." They both started laughing.  
  
When they had calmed down, Sailor Moon turned serious. "Can I ask you something personal?"  
  
"Sure?"  
  
"You said you hated Ami . . . why?"  
  
Jupiter stared at Sailor Moon. On one hand, she desperately wanted to tell someone the secret she had kept locked away for nearly ten years. On the other, the blonde next to her had proven she had no qualms about blackmail to get someone to do something.  
  
'Yeah, but look at what happened. You have friends. Real friends.'  
  
'Do I? Maybe she's messing with me.'  
  
'Maybe. But why would she tell you about the camera then? Go for it. You can disappear if you have too.'  
  
'I don't want to.'  
  
. . .  
  
'Yes, I do.'  
  
Jupiter took a deep breath. "I lost my parents at Okinawa," she said simply.  
  
"So did Ami," Sailor Moon replied.  
  
"You don't understand. They were all I had. I'm an orphan."  
  
"But you--" Sailor Moon blinked several times. "How did you . . . I mean, you have the apartment, you go to Juuban Academy."  
  
"There were so many unknowns," Jupiter said. "So many people so badly mutilated that they were unidentifiable. We lived up north. Isolated. It was so easy to just vanish. Head south. Move from school to school. Learn how to get around the system."  
  
"How did you do it?"  
  
"Whatever I had to do. My folks were stockbrokers. Had things set up so that the money pretty much ran itself. I'd spent enough time in their office that I knew what to do to keep things on track." Jupiter shrugged. "If anyone asks, I tell them my folks are traveling and they wire me money here and there." Jupiter smiled painfully. "'Cause they trust me."  
  
"Surely someone's gotten curious," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"Here and there. That's usually when I moved on. But here in Tokyo . . ."  
  
"Nobody notices enough to care," Sailor Moon said flatly. "But you haven't answered my question."  
  
Jupiter sighed. "After Okinawa, Ami and the other Miracles were paraded all over the TV. Every time I turned on the TV, there they were. They made a big deal out of Ami. Kept going on how she had her Aunt and her grandparents." Jupiter's eyes narrowed. "Miraculous Ami Mizuno. The last survivor. Look at her. She lost her mother, but she has family. People to love her." Jupiter's voice was flat. Her nostrils flared. She stared at something only she could see, her fingers gripping the scaffolding hard enough to twist it. "What did I have? Nothing. A big old empty house. Not even a pet for company. Meanwhile, good old Ami was having all sorts of stuff just given to her. She had a family." Tears began to streak down Jupiter's cheeks. "Family to tuck her in at night, to hold her during a thunderstorm. It wasn't fair. Where was my family? It just wasn't fair."  
  
Angrily, Jupiter dashed her tears away with a swipe of her hand.  
  
"That's when I began to hate her. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't care anymore. All there was the pain, and the hate. I wanted the hate. I used it. But the pain . . ." She laughed, a laugh without humor. "I couldn't outrun the pain. It was always there in my dreams. A sharp knife buried to the hilt my heart. Then, when I was twelve, I took a dare. Dead man's Current. A fifty yard section of a river scattered with razor sharp rocks. You hit one of those, you're dead. I made it. It was such a rush. So was sex. I'd found a way to outrun the pain."  
  
"You were twelve?" Sailor Moon asked. "You lost it when you were twelve?"  
  
Jupiter nodded. "Sports was another one that gave me a rush. I'm so big and tall that I can play on equal terms with the boys. Schools will bend over backwards for their stars, cut them all sorts of breaks and look the other way, so I made sure I was one. Anything to keep up the charade. Then I came to Juuban and I saw Ami, it all came back. All I wanted was to hurt her. Make her feel what I felt for ten years. But I couldn't tell her why. I was scared. I was afraid she'd understand. How can you hurt someone when they know your pain as keenly as you do?"  
  
"So you hid the pain," Sailor Moon said gently. "And bullied Ami because you know she wouldn't fight back."  
  
Jupiter nodded. "That was my life. Sports, sex, bully Ami. All of it kept that knife out of my heart. Then, a few months ago, the knife came back. Nothing I did would get rid of it. Nothing except a good screw. But the knife always came back. And then came that night in my apartment." She watched the signs across the way for a moment. "I didn't realize it at first, but ever since I first used that wand, since I started hanging out with you guys, the knife is gone. I'm free."  
  
"You have friends," Sailor Moon said softly. "Real friends who accept you for who you are instead of what you are."  
  
"That's so sappy," Jupiter said. "True, but sappy as hell."  
  
"I try," Sailor Moon said with aplomb as she glanced at the clock. "We'd better get moving."  
  
"Yeah, I . . . what the . . .?"  
  
Sailor Moon looked at Jupiter. The other Senshi was staring across the street at the signs. Silhouetted against one of them was a figure.  
  
The figure raised it's hand and the scaffolding began to shake.  
  
"SHIIIIIIT!" Jupiter screamed as the scaffolding pulled away from the building, raining debris onto the street below.  
  
"Hang on!" Sailor Moon shouted as the scaffolding, as tall as a three story building, crashed into the offices across the street. "Move!"  
  
Driven by adrenaline, the two girls scrambled up the metal bars of the scaffolding and onto the roof.  
  
"Now what?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"Duck!" Sailor Moon shouted, pulling Jupiter to the rooftop as an AC unit whizzed through the space where their heads had been.  
  
"Thanks," Jupiter said.  
  
"Thank me if we live," Sailor Moon retorted. "Run!" She leapt to her feet and sprinted across the rooftop and launched herself across the narrow gap, arms spread wide like wings as she seemed to fly and touched down as gently as a falling leaf on the next roof.  
  
Jupiter's landing wasn't as graceful. In fact, it was downright painful. She stumbled several steps and then fell forward, bouncing slightly as she slid.  
  
"Owwww . . ." Jupiter moaned. "How did you manage that leap -- and if you tell me to free my mind, I will hit you."  
  
"Nothing so cheesy," Sailor Moon said. "Don't think about how, just do. Instinct handles the rest."  
  
"I'll give it a try," Jupiter said as she got to her feet.  
  
"No," Sailor Moon said. "Do, or do--  
  
"Don't." Jupiter said. "Don't go there. Just . . . don't."  
  
A metallic thud behind them caused them to turn around. Standing there was a twenty-foot tall colossus of metal pipes and roof AC units.  
  
"Run!"  
  
Like a well oiled machine, Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter darted across the rooftop as the colossus' hand missed them by inches.  
  
"Don't think just do, don't think just do, don't think just do," Jupiter repeated to herself as she flew off the roof edge after Sailor Moon. Below them, the street glittered like gems and then she was landing lightly on the the next roof. "Hey that was easy," she laughed.  
  
"What's that noise?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"What noise?" Jupiter asked.  
  
There was a loud cackling laugh and the howl of turbines as something swooped overhead.  
  
"The Goblin!" Sailor Moon gasped.  
  
"Goblin? That thing that's been on the news?" Jupiter said and then her martial arts trained reflexes threw her to the side as something (It looked like a shuriken shaped like a bat) whipped past her ear and buried itself into the rooftop.  
  
The next moment, something red and blue cleared the rooftop edge and leapt up at the Goblin.  
  
"Spiderwoman!" Sailor Moon howled with glee.  
  
"Shit!" Jupiter exclaimed.  
  
"What are you swearing for?" Sailor Moon asked Jupiter and then saw what the other Senshi was staring at. "Shit."  
  
Crouched on a chimney, a youma stared at them with reptilian yellow eyes. It was big, with large clawed hands and a hungry expression on it's face.  
  
Overhead, there was the sound of a curse and Spiderwoman hit the rooftop hard and didn't move for several moments.  
  
The youma lunged, but then Tuxedo Mask was there, driving the youma back with punches and kicks. The Youma snarled in anger and sent him into the air with a single uppercut and then slashed with it's lethally sharp claws.  
  
Tuxedo Mask landed upright, but on one leg, which then folded beneath him. Without quite knowing why, Sailor Moon helped him stand as Jupiter picked up Spiderwoman.  
  
With a sound that was a cross between a snicker and a snarl, the youma approached them as on the other side, the Goblin descended from above, crouched on his flying craft, cackling softly.  
  
From a third side, the metal colossus stepped onto the roof with a metallic clank and floating overhead, silhouetted against the full moon was the figure who had somehow pulled the scaffolding away from the building without touching it.  
  
It was a triangle formation, no matter what direction they went, at least two of their enemies could catch them in a proverbial vise.  
  
"Senshi!" A woman's voice rang out. Jupiter frowned. There was something familiar about that voice. "I am General Magnetite."  
  
"If you're going to sell us Avon," Sailor Moon called out, "we're not interested."  
  
"Ah, the grand Usagi Tsukino . . . wit," Magnetite said. "I would compliment you on the ability to wisecrack in the face of destruction, but my honor as a soldier forbids lying."  
  
"Oh sure," Sailor Moon replied. "Rob the world of comic genius why don't you?"  
  
"First show me one and then we'll talk."  
  
Jupiter's mind was racing. She couldn't explain why, but something told her that she should know Magnetite. She glared up at the hovering finger.  
  
Up . . .  
  
Emerald orbs narrowed and she resisted the impulse to look at the escape route that had suddenly presented itself.  
  
"Fine," Sailor Moon was saying. "I'll show you wit if you can give me one good reason why this Mettallia person named a bimbo like Beryl as their field commander. Last time I looked, that office required, oh, I dunno, brains, for starters."  
  
"Oh, the pot calling the kettle black."  
  
"What can I say? We who are about to die disrespect you."  
  
"Not today," Jupiter said and summoned up all her power as she screamed their only chance into the night air.  
  
"SUPREME THUNDER!" 


	8. Calm Before the Storm

"If the knock-knock joke doesn't get them, then you kill the stupid bastards while they try to figure the damn thing out."   
-Shayla-Shayla, El Hazard  
  
Sailor Moon stared at Sailor Jupiter. Her expression was cold, hard. Jupiter had apparently found something on the ground of the alley very interesting because she didn't raise her head to meet that stare. Tuxedo Mask sat on an old crate, his injured leg propped up on a box.  
  
Spiderwoman stood nearby, the ghostly images of Ami and Sailor Mercury staring at the two girls.  
  
"Let me get this straight," Sailor Moon said in a maddeningly level voice. "In lieu of an actual plan, or even making a do or die try to escape, you threw a Supreme Thunder into the building we stood on, making it collapse under our feet. Then, somehow, we rode the collapse down and out of the building, while our enemies milled around and hopefully even got crushed by the rubble. Had even one thing gone wrong, just one thing, we might have gotten killed. Correct?"  
  
Jupiter nodded and then had to quickly reposition her feet to avoid being knocked over as Sailor Moon grabbed her into a bear hug. "And here I thought you weren't paying attention!" The blonde haired Senshi squealed. "I'm so proud of you!"  
  
"Er . . .?" Jupiter said, feeling a gigantic drop of sweat slide down the back of her head.  
  
"We're wasting what energy we have left," Spiderwoman said. "Because of the upcoming festival, we won't have school for several days. I suggest we use the time to recover. Ami will be in touch." She fired a web-line at the roof and vanished into the night sky.  
  
"You need help?" Jupiter asked Tuxedo Mask as he stood up on shaky legs.  
  
"No thanks, I heal fast," Tuxedo Mask replied and then he leapt upwards and climbed onto the rooftops.  
  
"You're welcome!" Sailor Moon shouted as his cape vanished over the edge. "Bastard," she muttered as she turned back to Jupiter. "And then there were two."  
  
"You mean one," Jupiter replied. "I'm going to catch the dawn train back to my place." Pulling the gem off her blouse, it transformed back to her wand as her fuku and jewelry became once more the school uniform she had put on that morning. "Later." She left the alleyway and took a right and then looked back as Usagi caught up to her, school shoes slapping on the pavement.  
  
"Room for one more?"  
  
"Sure. Why the hell not? Come on."  
  
Ami had already gone dormant by the time they had crossed into Juuban, picked up their schoolbag and began making their way to their home.  
  
In the distance, the sky had begun to lighten over Tokyo, as Spiderwoman, little more then a red and blue shadow in the pre-dawn light, soundlessly bounded from rooftop to rooftop, the close and densely packed houses serving as a speedy roadway.  
  
The first rays of sunlight were visible as Spiderwoman landed on the house roof and climbed down the wall, sliding open the window that led to their bedroom and then froze as Mercury seized control of their body.  
  
'What are you doing?' Spiderwoman demanded. 'We--'  
  
'We are being watched,' Mercury said, cutting her off. 'I can feel it.'  
  
'Our danger sense says otherwise.'  
  
'That only means that we are in no current danger from this watcher.'  
  
'If they present no danger then we have nothing to worry about.'  
  
'I doubt that Ami shares your confidence.'  
  
Spiderwoman made a noise in their throat. 'We don't have the time or the energy to search for this . . . watcher you feel. If it doesn't trigger our danger sense, I'm not going to concern myself with it.'  
  
'Very well,' Mercury said and they entered the room. 'It is fortunate that Aunt Mai is on the festival staff, and hasn't been home since the day before yesterday,' she said as they switched their clothing back to the school uniform. 'Explaining why we have not been home all night would have been . . . complicated.' Mercury flipped on the desk lamp and then turned and shut the window and the curtains before donning their pajamas and going to bed.  
  
Across the way, the curtains in the window of the house next door twitched ever so slightly, as though a moment ago, they had been parted just enough for someone to see through them.  
  
"A new General?" Naru asked. "Beryl doesn't waste time, does she?"  
  
"That would imply that Beryl knows what time is," Usagi said with a snort. Having gotten a full night's sleep at the Akkona, Usagi and Makoto were at Naru's house so that Usagi could change clothes and grab a bath. Having bathed, Usagi stood in the middle of Naru's room, putting on a clean bra. "Which in turn implies that there is a brain inside her thick skull."  
  
"Even Beryl knows what time is," Naru pointed out. "She's not that stupid. Superintendent's daughter or no, there's no way she could have gotten into Juuban Academy without some brains."  
  
"I hate it when you apply logic to my unsubstantiated declarations," Usagi said and turned to rummage in the stash of clothes.  
  
"Hey, Naru?" Makoto whispered.  
  
"Yeah?" Naru whispered back.  
  
"What's up with Usagi and Beryl?"  
  
"Long story. Short version is that they used to be friends until Beryl did something somewhat foolish. Usagi took it badly and they've been fighting ever since."  
  
Makoto thought about that for a moment. "What did Beryl do that pissed Usagi so badly?"  
  
"Beats the hell out of me," Naru said with a shrug. "I've forgotten and just between you and me, I think Usagi has too. I know Beryl has."  
  
"So she's just hating Beryl out of habit?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"That's . . . insane . . .," Makoto said and then paused. "Sorry, forgot who we were talking about for a minute."  
  
Naru had to laugh at that.  
  
Kenji Tsukino shut the door to his private lab behind him and only then allowed the fury that had been bubbling inside him since the previous night to come out. Snarling, he rammed his fist into the metal locker near the door, leaving a small dent. How? How could he had missed the connection? Now that he knew Sailor Moon's real name, it was so obvious. How could he have missed it?  
  
"Temper, temper," a woman's voice chided. Turning, Kenji saw Beryl seated demurely on a lab stool.  
  
"How dare you not tell me Sailor Moon was Usagi?" Kenji demanded.  
  
"You mean you didn't know? I'm shocked."  
  
She acts completely different as Sailor Moon," Kenji seethed as he removed his coat and tie. "She's more bold, more brash. Also, she looked nothing like Usagi until your General said her name."  
  
"More?" Beryl asked, puzzlement evident in her voice. Then she laughed. "My God, she has you totally fooled, doesn't she?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Kenji demanded.  
  
Beryl leaned forward. "Usagi's completely insane. She terrorizes the school with pranks, has been known to argue with sculptures and never gets in trouble because her grades are so good and the school is afraid of your wrath if they throw her out without proof of her deeds. I don't know how she acts around you, but believe me, she doesn't change as Sailor Moon."  
  
Kenji nodded. "Then it's good that I'll kill her instead of marrying her. An insane wife would do me little good."  
  
Beryl cocked her head. "I'm not sure whether to be surprised by your ruthlessness or the fact that you're more concerned that you nearly married a crazy person who happens to be your daughter."  
  
"Blood ties are merely a obstacle," Kenji said. "Easily dealt with if one has the money and connections. I have both. And she's not my daughter."  
  
"You sired her, she has your name."  
  
"Her siring was an accident, her name a mistake on the part of the hospital. I call her my daughter because it's convenient."  
  
Beryl's lips quirked. "So, the rumors are true. Interesting."  
  
Kenji snorted. "What are you doing here?" He went to his work bench and began mixing the chemicals for the Goblin's pumpkin bombs.  
  
"Last night," Beryl said. "I told you that I would make you king of the Tokyo Underworld if you helped us destroy the Senshi. True, they got away, but the deal remains." He felt her join him at the work bench. "Your majesty."  
  
"Your deal no longer interests me," Kenji said. "I will seize the city without your help."  
  
"This is a different deal. We're offering an alliance." Beryl ran her finger down his arm. "We need something from you, Kenji. Something only you can do. In return, my Mistress offers you Japan. All of Japan, yours to rule as you see fit. We get the rest of the world." She leaned against him. "You would also get a queen, one deserving of your power and station." Her lips brushed his ear. "Consider it, that's all we ask."  
  
Kenji turned his head to reply, but she had vanished.  
  
Ami loved Aunt Mai, she truly did. But occasionally, the woman would do things that not even a Spider-Sense could warn about.  
  
"I think you should start dating again."  
  
Ami dropped her toast while Mercury restrained Spiderwoman from seizing control and peppering Aunt Mai with obscenities.  
  
"Aunt Mai?" Ami asked, bending to retrieve the slice of bread.  
  
"Dating," Aunt Mai replied. "It's been several months since Gendo died, it's high time you stopped mourning." Ami's eyes flicked to the black band she wore on her wrist and then back to her breakfast.  
  
"I'm not interested," Ami replied. "I need to study. Cram school."  
  
"You made plenty of time for Gendo," Mai pointed out. "It's not normal for a girl your age to not be dating. Makes you stand out."  
  
Ami ate her toast while trying to come up with an answer.  
  
Aunt Mai took her niece's silence for agreement because she continued talking. "Now Mrs. Wantanabe next door is having her nephew move in while his parents are in America. I've already met him and he's a wonderful, handsome young man. I think you would get along well together."  
  
"I don't know . . ." Ami replied. To be honest with herself, she missed having someone as close to her as Gendo had been, but it hadn't been that long since he had died. Still, she . . .  
  
'To date again is betraying Gendo,' Spiderwoman hissed.  
  
'I must agree with Spiderwoman,' Mercury said. 'Gendo gave his life for us. We cannot dishonor his sacrifice by letting someone replace him.'  
  
" . . . So he'll be here on the sixteenth," Aunt Mai said, distracting them.  
  
"Sixteenth?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yes, Ami, the sixteenth," Aunt Mai said. "He was here before the festival, but has to go back to Manju. He'll be back here on the sixteenth. I expect you to be able to meet him." The older woman fixed Ami with a steely glare that dared it's target to say no.  
  
None of them accepted it.  
  
"Drill," Usagi said. Ami passed her the drill.  
  
"Pliers," Naru said. Ami handed her the pliers.  
  
"So your aunt wants to set you up?" Usagi asked. She and Naru were crouched under one of the sinks in the staff bathroom doing something to the pipes. Ami crouched nearby, passing them items from a sack. "With someone she thinks would be a good match?" All three girls wore gloves.  
  
"Well she approved of Gendo, didn't she?" Naru said. "Grease."  
  
"Yeah, but he hated wearing women's clothing," Usagi said.  
  
"Even though he looked so cute," Naru cooed. "Wrench."  
  
"But . . . Gendo . . ." Ami said. "I don't want to replace him."  
  
"Look," Usagi said, pointing the drill at Ami. "Nobody's suggesting you replace Gendo. Nobody can replace Gendo, and if this guy values his testicles, he's not going to try."  
  
Naru made noises of agreement. "If you decide to jump his bones," she said. "It's going to be because of . . . what's this guy's name again?"  
  
"Motoki," Ami said after a moment's thought. "Motoki James Watanabe."  
  
"James?"  
  
"His mother's American," Ami said. "Aunt Mai said she insisted that he have that name. I don't know anything else."  
  
"She makes it so easy," Naru sighed. "So if you decide to jump his bones," she said. "It's going be because he's Motoki James --"  
  
"I think it's just Motoki," Ami said. "Aunt Mai said James was his middle name."  
  
"Middle name?" Naru looked at Usagi, who shrugged.  
  
"Something they do in the west," she said. "Poor kids get slapped with an extra name or five on top of their personal and family name." Usagi did something under the sink and removed a large metal pipe about a foot and a half long and a good two inches wide.  
  
"Ew," Naru said. "My point is, Ami, is that Gendo was Gendo and Motoki is Motoki. There's no similarities between the two and there shouldn't be. Shinnie loved you and because he loved you, he would want you to be happy. If this Motoki guy makes you happy, tie him down and eat sushi off of his chest."  
  
"Naru, what is it with you tying people down and using them as dishware?" Usagi asked. "Some kind of kinky fetish? Hand me the red bag, Ami.  
  
"Just because I refuse to limit myself," Naru said snottily, "and encourage Ami to do the same, should in no way be inferred as me having a fetish."  
  
Ami removed the bag with the red, viscous liquid. It was made of clear plastic and had an odd arrangement of flaps at each end. It weighed several pounds and was about the size of the pipe Usagi had just removed. "What is it?"  
  
"This? This is the stuff they use in those hyper violent horror movies. Mixed with water at about three to one, it makes for very realistic blood. Even smells like it." She took the bag from Ami and began to carefully insert it into the pipe. "This bag is a mixer bag. It lets water in at one end and pressure forces it out the other end in the proper mixture. The pipe is the feed pipe for the sinks in this bathroom. Once this baby is installed, whoever uses these sinks will be washing their hands in blood, not water."  
  
Ami raised an eyebrow, but Naru beat her to the punch. "And why, exactly, are we doing this?"  
  
"Drama club is putting on MacBeth tonight." Usagi's face twisted up into a grimace of horror. "'The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?--What, will these hands ne'er be clean?--No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting'. Lady MacBeth, world's dumbest murderess. If it were me, I would have hightailed it off to Sweden and left MacBeth to take the blame." She finished the bag and reached in to put the pipe back into place. "What's really fun is that this stuff stains and the stains don't come out easily."  
  
"So?" Naru asked. "Aside from bringing to life one of Bacon's plays, what's the point?"  
  
"Anyone who uses these sinks will be washing their hands in blood."  
  
Naru considered that as she and Usagi put the pipe back in place. "I like it," she approved as they made sure there was no sign that the pipe had been removed.  
  
"Thought you would," Usagi said as they replaced the tools and wiped off any surface that they might have touched with bare skin. Usagi was odd like that. She paid attention to the little details, nothing seemed to be inconsequential.  
  
Ami supposed it was for the best. It was that self-same concern for details that left school authorities with no actual proof that Usagi was responsible for the chaos she created. Without that proof, no one wanted to risk her father's wrath by kicking his daughter out of school.  
  
While Naru went to return the tools, cleaner and gloves to the maintenance shed, Usagi and Naru made their way to the small grove of trees where they typically ate lunch. They had only spent ten minutes in the staff bathroom.  
  
Flash was already there. "Where have you two been?" she demanded and then saw the look on Usagi's face. "Do I want to know?"  
  
"You'll find out," Usagi said and then looked at her pinky. "Won't they, Pinky-chan?" Her voice became lower and more gravelly. "Yes, Usagi-sama." She looked back at Flash. "See?" she said in her normal voice. "Pinky-chan says so." She flung an arm around Flash's neck and pulled her down to eye level. "Never argue with Pinky-chan," she said in a voice colder then death itself.  
  
Flash looked at Usagi with a mixture of terror, fascination, and curiosity. When she sat on the grass, it was as far from Usagi as possible.  
  
Superintendent Souma and his Daughter Beryl lived in the penthouse of Tokyo's tallest apartment building. Souma had won high accolades from peers and parents alike for his strong leadership and cool head in crisis.  
  
His elevation to superintendent had been but a matter of time.  
  
The penthouse started on the seventy-fifth floor and was three levels high at its highest point.  
  
Three years ago, on her thirteenth birthday, Souma's daughter had received power. Terrible power that no one should ever wield, but she did.  
  
On the orders of the strange voice that spoke to her from the bedroom mirror, Beryl had enslaved her father's mind.  
  
After three years, all that was left was a creature that looked like Souma, talked like Souma, and for all intents and purposes, was Souma. A skilled observer might notice something off, but those things could easily be dismissed, or made to be forgotten.  
  
Tonight, it lay in its small room, a closet, really, blind and deaf to the outside world as the body recharged.  
  
The voice had given Beryl more then power. Her body was pleasing to the eye, her voice a magnet for the ear. The voice had taught her to use both.  
  
In the main room, Beryl used her lessons on Kenji Tsukino, beguiling him with the carnal acts of a hundred cultures from around the world . . . and beyond.  
  
More surprising, he kept up with her long after most men or women would have collapsed of exhaustion.  
  
Still, when both had been sated, he, still human, had fallen asleep.  
  
Beryl hadn't been human in two years.  
  
She rose from the makeshift bed of clothes and walked to the window, where she stared out at Tokyo for three hours. Then, she turned and walked to where her bag lay on the couch and removed a notebook.  
  
Outwardly, there was nothing to draw attention to it. It was of average size, college ruled lined paper and spiral bound with copper wire.  
  
However, the pages within would draw a great deal of attention. In Usagi's handwriting, the notebook chronicled each and every prank that she had ever pulled. It was the proof that the authorities had so desperately so sought all these years and it, or rather, a magic-created duplicate, was in Beryl's hands. Magnetite had given it to Beryl as they passed each other in the crowded hallway.  
  
"I need only give this to my father," Beryl said softly as she turned the pages. "Usagi, with this alone, I could destroy you. But it's not enough. For what you represent, it can never be enough. Even were your death to last an eternity, it would not be enough." She smiled. "But it will do." The book snapped closed and she replaced it in her bag. "Soon, Usagi. Just three months and then you pay for Serenity's crimes . . . and your own." 


	9. Measuring up

Note: I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, I still feel it could use some work, but not sure where. Ah well. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the creation of Nakao Takeuchi, the concept of Spiderman and such are by Stan Lee. No Money is being made from this and no such intent should be inferred.

-------------------

"I was in an office building the other day. I'm standing on the bottom floor in front of the elevator, and I push the button. A woman walks up to me and goes: 'Are these the elevators that go up?'  
I said; 'No, these are the the ones that go side to side. The ones that go up are down the hall.' SHE WALKED AWAY!"  
-Bill Engvall

"j00 607 pwnz0r3d," Usagi said, and Ami stopped on the steps that to the Daily Bugle's entrance.

'One of these days,' she decided to herself as she turned to face Usagi, who was perched on a small statue. 'I'm going to find out how she vocalizes a text only language.'

"And when I say pwned," Usagi continued, indicating the copy of the Bugle in her hand. "I mean butt handed to you on a silver platter and lightly garnished with your head." Somehow, Ami managed to keep the fact that every part of her body was in agony off her face as she walked over to Usagi, who was grinning her usual mad grin. "And not to mention you and that Green Goblin fellow tore up an entire urban mall last night. I mean, really." She flicked her gaze over the paper. "You took out a Spencers'? The places that sell high fashion crap, congrats, but SPENCERS' and their yummy selection of esoteric doodads? I thought I taught you better then that."

"I don't recall accepting you as any kind of teacher," Spiderwoman said levelly as Ami sat down on the statue, wincing as muscles and bruises protested. "We are allies, which means I do not have to accept any reprimands from you."

"Who's reprimanding?" Usagi asked lightly, but Ami felt herself shiver. The blonde was still grinning madly, but her eyes were perfectly sane. Twin blue orbs of ice that lashed out like electromagnets to hold Spiderwoman's gaze. Then, one of Usagi's eyebrows rose, just a bit, as much sensed as seen. A dare, a mock, and a challenge rolled into one.

Spiderwoman shifted her gaze just enough to break the hold, and the look in Usagi's eyes vanished as though it had never been and Ami let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Her ribs groaned in protest and Ami felt tears slide down her cheek. The painkillers were starting to wear off, she realized.

"Oh come on," Usagi dug into the messenger bag slung across her back and produced a hankerchief which she wet with her tounge and began to wipe the tears from Ami's cheek. "You don't need to cry, I was only . . . joking about . . ." Usagi looked closer at Ami's cheek. ". . . hoooolllllly shit . . ."

Ami's mind raced, or tried to. The hankerchief had revealed the massive bruises on her cheek that had been covered by stage makeup. As she had never prayed before, Ami prayed that Usagi would shake her head, make a joke, and . . . and what? She frowned. Her head was beginning to hurt. Was it getting foggy?

And here it was almost summer. How funny. Ami giggled to herself, not noticing as Usagi grabbed the sleeve of Ami's shirt and whipped it up, revealing several lacerations and lots of bad bruises, many poorly tended to.

"What happened?" Usagi growled. That was odd, Usagi never growled. She was mad, after all. Ami replied to her question -that was only proper- with the only answer that made sense.

"Somebody set us up the bomb," Ami replied.

"Oh, God, you need to get to a doctor, like now."

Something about those words momentarily jerked Ami back to her senses. "No. Grandfather's lunch. Grandmother told me to deliver him his lunch." The fog came back, clouding her brain. "Aunt Mai . . . Eatings . . . 'Eat Mai lunch.' Mai lunch. Get it?"

"Yeah, you should be doing stand up," Usagi muttered as she helped Ami to her feet. Ami's new bod was built along Flash's lines, but sleeker . . . mostly. Usagi turned her head to keep the side of Ami's chest out of her face. Even if Ami's chest was in perfect proportion to the rest of her, D-cups were a pain. And because that bod was mostly muscle, Ami was heavier then she looked. "If I hadn't already convinced myself that I was Kami-Sama," Usagi muttered, "this would make me develop an inferiority complex."

Usagi began making her way back down the steps. All few seconds out of sight to transform and then Sailor Moon could get her . . . where? Where to take her?

First things first. Find someplace to transform, then --

"Is she all right?"

Shit.

Turning, Usagi saw a young man. He was slightly taller then Flash with tousled brown hair and inquisitive eyes. A camera was slung around his neck and he was dressed in jeans and a dress shirt open at the neck. He was staring at them quizically and Usagi thought fast.

"Yeah, she just has this cold and the meds made her stupid. You know how it is. I'm just taking her someplace where she can sleep it off."

"Isn't that Mister Jameson's granddaughter?" The man asked, stepping closer. Usagi swallowed several obsence words and thought even faster.

"Usagi, why are we leaving? That's my big brother," Ami said, and then giggled. "Hi, bro!"

"Right," Usagi muttered and then looked up as inspiration struck. "You know her grandpa?"

"Yeah," the young man said. "Well sort of --"

"Great!" Usagi yanked a bento box from Ami's bag and handed it to him. "Here. It's his lunch. Give it to him for us, thanks." With that, she walked away as Ami cheerfully called goodbye.

-------------------

Flash's secret vice was cooking. She loved cooking. With a surgeon's steady hands, she carefully added the finishing touches to the souffle. This wasn't just food, it was art and she was DaVinci.

At that moment, the phone rang, making her hands jerk and she snatched the phone off the counter as the souffle collapsed. "What?" she growled.

"Grab your better half and meet me on the Kento Corp rooftop," Usagi said and then hung up. Flash stared at the phone for a few seconds and then shoved the remains of the souffle into the sink.

"JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!"

-------------------

It took Sailor Jupiter five minutes to cover the distance and when she got there, Sailor Moon was sitting calmly on an AC unit. On a heating duct, Ami lay on her back, twitching and muttering to herself.

"What in the hell?" Jupiter demanded.

"Beats me," Sailor Moon said. The blond held a high end model Palm Pilot in her hand and was looking for something on its screen. "She's wearing a boatload of makeup and under the makeup her face looks like she went fifty rounds with Kenshirou Kasumi while hog-tied."

Jupiter had no idea who that was and didn't give a damn at the moment. "We gotta get her to a hospital," she said.

"And tell them what?" Sailor Moon asked. "Wanna explain why two Senshi are bringing a beaten up girl to them? The girl whose grandfather takes up whole editorials ranting about how those Senshi need to be tossed in jail for a few hundred years? We walk in with his badly beaten granddaughter and we might as well just ask for rope and hang ourselves."

"We could go in our civvies . . ." Jupiter said and then trailed off as Sailor Moon looked her with an "I know you're not that stupid" expression.

"Well we can't leave her like this," Jupiter said.

"I don't intend to. I just need to check something . . . ah!" Triumphantly, Sailor Moon switched the Palm off and hopped off the AC. "Grab her and follow."

Jupiter did as she was bid. "Where are we going?"

"Shinjuku, there's a doc there who's set up shop and does whatever you need. He doesn't ask questions, keeps no paitent records, will work for free, and has a real bad memory for faces."

"And you've verfied this?" Jupiter asked sardonically.

Something passed across Sailor Moon's face. "Soitenly," she said. "Tally ho!"

-------------------

The doctor, David Banterman by name, kept his office in one of the worst sections of Shinjuku possible in a ramshackle building with very little security. Given the drugs and stuff kept by doctors, that seemed foolhardy until Jupiter actually laid eyes on Banterman and realized why he was so lax.

Banterman was big. In fact, big was an understatment. He had to be close to eight feet tall and at least half that, if not more in width. He seemed to be not much more then pure muscle, a mobile wall built for one purpose; destruction. His pinky alone had to be the same girth as Jupiter's own wrist. No one in their right mind would mess with somebody that big without an army at their back. And, even then, whether or not the army would win was probably a crapshoot. He wore a black shirt and purple pants, which seemed to go well with his dark skin.

Yet, despite his massive size, he moved with an almost dancer's grace as he rose from the stool he'd been seated on while cleaning instruments.

"Can I help you?" His deep bass seemed to vibrate in Jupiter's bones and his Japanese was nearly flawless.

"Our friend is hurt," Sailor Moon said.

Banterman waved a hand at the exam table and reached for a set of oversized latex gloves. "Veronica!" he called. A tall, brown haired American woman entered the room a moment later and asked a question in English.

Banterman glanced at Ami's face, made a hissing noise, and then began rattling off a list of things he needed. Veronica vanished when he had finished and Banterman began to wipe the makeup off Ami's face with a delicateness that belied his sheer bulk.

"Since I see Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter standing before me," he said softly, "I can only assume that this is Spiderwoman on my table."

"You shouldn't assume," Sailor Moon said lightly as she moved to stand on the other side of the table, shrugging off her long coat as she did so. "On second thought," Sailor Moon said, "it's too damn cold in here" and pulled the coat back on. But as she did, Jupiter saw a long white scar where her neck met her shoulder. It looked like it could have been made by a knife. "Assuming makes an ass out of--"

"I know what assuming does," Banterman rumbled as Veronica returned with a tray loaded with supplies. Carefully, he began to remove Ami's shirt.

Veronica gasped and said something as she traced a cross in the air.

Very little of Ami's body was unbruised and what wasn't brusied was deeply cut. Someone with limited medical knowledge had tended the cuts, but not very well. Many seemed to have closed on their own, with only angry red lines to mark their place.

"Naked time!" Ami exclaimed. "Whee!"

"Exodorphins," Banterman muttered to himself. "Twelve ceecees of Mirol."

"Exo whosa whatso?" Jupiter asked.

"Exodorphins," Banterman said as he took the syringe from Veronica and injected Ami with it. "Natural painkiller produced by bodies with an active Exgene. Like your friend here, and you." On the table, Ami relaxed, her eyes closing. "To many Exodorphins send a person into a state not unlike being drunk."

"Exgene?" Jupiter repeated as Veronica handed Banterman a threaded suture needle.

"Mutational gene," Veronica told them. Her Japanese was heavily accented. "Previously unknown gene that activates previously unused portions of the brain, allowing superhuman feats and abilities by mutating the human DNA structure."

"So your friend's lucky," Banterman said.

"Not from what I see," Jupiter replied.

"Without her Exgene, and its effects of accelerated healing," Banterman countered, "She'd have died from these injuries hours ago. She's lucky."

Jupiter, having no answer to that, looked over at Sailor Moon. The blonde had cut up a latex glove to make finger puppets and appeared to be putting on a X-rated puppet version of Tokyo Pig.

Jupiter looked back at Veronica, who was watching Sailor Moon with a puzzeled expression. She then looked at Jupiter, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. Jupiter could only shrug. "Dang if I know," the Senshi of Thunder said.

-------------------

Ami blinked as she awoke. The last thing she remembered was sitting down on the statue next to Usagi and--

"Grandfather's lunch!" she exclaimed, sitting up, only to blink as a hand the size of a small child's head pushed her back down.

"Lie back down, Spiderwoman," a deep voice said. "You're not nearly ready to walk out of here."

Spiderwoman? Ami followed the wrist to the forearm to the upper arm and found it attached to the biggest man she'd ever seen. "What did you call me?"

"Spiderwoman," the man replied. "I don't know your real name and don't want to. Now lie there and rest."

As Ami tried to digest that, Sailor Moon's head popped into her field of vision. The blonde had sharpened a pair of tounge depressors into fangs, which were poking out of her mouth. She was also wearing a headband with attached disc and was holding a scapel.

"Vou haf a lovely nose, my dear," Sailor Moon said to her in an atrocious accent, despite the fangs. "Howevfah, perhaps a little off the top might be in ordah?"

The big man's face reappeared, glaring at Sailor Moon, who managed to look contrite and then disappeared.

"How do you manage to keep from killing her?" he muttered as he lifted the sheet to peer at something. It was at that moment that Ami realized that she was naked under the sheet. It was at that same moment that Sailor Moon sat on the bed and on Ami's hand, preventing her from hitting him.

"Relax," she chirped. "Banty-chan's a doctor."

"The name's Banterman," he muttered.

Sailor Moon made a dismissive gesture. "Whatever. Anyways, he fixed you up nice and pretty. Not a scar to be found. Which is good, since scars lower your ogle ratio. The less pervs who ogle, the less money I make selling pics of your rated number one ass." She looked up at Banterman. "It's true. She's been voted as having the number one ass at school for five weeks straight." She looked down at Ami. "Which reminds me, I owe you your fifty percent." She patted Ami's stomach and hopped off the bed and out of sight.

"It was your Exgene," Banterman said to Ami. "I had little to do with it."

"Exgene?" Ami frowned to herself for a moment. "You mean Charles Xavier's single generation mutation theory?"

Banterman raised an eyebrow. "You've read his paper."

Ami nodded. "All theory, though. Isn't it?"

Banterman shook his head. "Don't I wish. They're out there and you're one of them."

"I . . ." Ami shook her head. "I think I'd like to go home now. Really."

Banterman let out a deep breath. "As a doctor, I'd rather you stay a while longer, just to be sure you've recovered completly, but I'll leave now so you can get dressed."

-------------------

Banterman gulped down half of the bottle of Sake and wiped his mouth before putting the bottle back. All this time. Waiting and tending to an endless stream of women and girls, hoping that gossip would bring Sailor Moon to him. Now she was here and what he really wanted to do was wring her neck and hope there was a back up.

He snarled to himself and removed an oversized phone from his pocket and dialed a number. "She's here," he said simply and hung up.

Strange and Fury owed him big for this.

-------------------

Once away from Banterman's clinic, the three girls changed back.

"So what happened?" Flash asked.

"It was the Goblin," Ami said softly. "He confronted us when we took a break on the roof of the shopping center. Asked, no, demanded that Spiderwoman join forces with him."

"Let me guess," Flash said. "You told him no and he pitched a fit."

"Worse," Ami said with a shudder. "It was like he was possessed. No matter what we did, no matter where we went, there he was. Hitting, kicking, throwing those bombs and shuriken. It was like he was a . . . a . . ."

As Ami struggled to find the right words, a piece of rebar suddenly sprouted from the sidewalk next to Usagi's shoe with an ear splitting crack.

"Odd," Usagi mused. "Weather report didn't say anything about construction materials in the forecast."

"Hello, ladies," Magnetite's voice said. "Having a good evening?"

"But it did mention jackasses," Usagi continued with a note of disgust. "Magnetite, right? Good to hear from you again. Taking a break from kissing Beryl's ass?"

"You're funny, Usagi, real funny."

"I try."

Up ahead of them, a figure materialized in the shadow of an overhang.

"Look, girls," Usagi said. "It's Bozo the brownoser."

"Is that all you can come up with? Insults based on whom I serve? And I really thought better of you after all these years."

"All these--who the hell are you?" Usagi demanded. "Why don't you step into the light where we can see you?"

Suddenly, everything clicked in Flash's mind. "Oh, Kamis," she whispered. "Ami, get ready to grab her."

"Huh? Why?"

"Mmm, why not? I just wish I had a camera."

"Just do it," Flash hissed.

"A camera?" Usagi sneered. "A camera for what? Your ass-whooping?"

"No," Magnetite said as she stepped into the light, "yours."

Ami felt Usagi's legs give out.

"No," the blonde whispered. "No, no, no. A trick. It has to be a trick."

"Oh its no trick, Usagi," Naru said with a smile. "No trick at all. More like . . . payback."


	10. Evolution of the Learning Curve

"No . . ." Usagi backed away. "No."

"Oh yes, Usagi. It's me. Your dear cousin, Naru, come to say hello."

"No . . ." Usagi shook her head vehemently. "This isn't real. You're some kind of fake."

Naru walked towards them, matching Usagi for each step that the blonde took backwards. "A fake? That's it? Where's the Tsukino wit we all know and love? Where's the insults and that tireless self-confidence?" The brown-haired girl's smile was sadistic. "Everyone told you, Usagi. One of these days, you'll mess up. One of these days, all your screwing around is going backfire. Well today's the day. I'm the enemy, Usagi. Been the enemy for months now."

"No . . ."

"No, no, no, no. God, Usagi, its like a broken record. Here I am, set to gloat and sneer, and you're hanging from the arms of your friends like a limp dishrag and possessing a one word vocabulary. How pathetic is that?"

"Why, Naru?" Ami demanded. "Why betray us like this? What did Beryl offer you?"

"Recognition," Naru said, spreading her hands. "Recognition for my brains and my skills instead of being Usagi's second pair of hands. It should have been me! Me! For the past three years, Ami, its all Usagi. All these obscure references, intricate pranks, everything has to have a message. God, its like she's some kind of social crusader sometimes. Not that it wasn't fun, but we always had to do her ideas, her way of doing things. I made them work, Ami. I took most of the risks and what did I get? NOTHING and I'm tired of it! So I went to work for Beryl. I get recognition and she doesn't give a damn how I do it."

"We have to get Usagi out of here," Flash whispered. "Take her and climb a wall. You're the fastest, and don't have to transform, get her someplace safe. I'll cover you." Flash shoved Usagi at Ami and then took out her wand. "Jupiter Power, MAKE UP!" Lightning flashed and thunder roared and Jupiter thrust out her hand. "SUPREME THUNDER!"

"Lightning," Naru sneered as the bolt spattered harmlessly against some invisible wall. "Against someone with powers of magnetism? Please." She gestured and Jupiter suddenly found herself hanging in mid-hair by her chest. Usagi fell and hit the sidewalk and Ami floated down to hover next to Jupiter.

"Under-wire?" Jupiter asked and Ami blushed.

"Aunt Mai said I had too."

"Figures, fucked over by our underwear."

They felt themselves spinning until they were looking at Naru upside down. "Ah," Naru gloated, "The joys of being a B cup."

Jupiter scowled. "Look, I ain't no damn conversationalist. You gonna finish us off, get on with it."

"Oh, I suppose. Its no fun since Usagi is a blob on the sidewalk." Naru raised her hand and at that moment, something huge and green dropped out of the sky and Ami felt herself bouncing and skidding on the sidewalk.

Blackness fell.

* * *

Ami awoke in a dark room. As her eyes quickly adjusted, she realized that she was back in Banterman's Operating Room. Nearby, Usagi and Flash lay on cots.

'How did we get back here?' Ami wondered. She slid off her cot and padded softly out of the room. The hallway was darkened save for light from a door at the other end. She moved closer and heard voices speaking in English.

'The wall,' Mercury said and Ami scaled the wall, crawling over to the doorframe and eased herself down until her eyes cleared the top.

The room was some kind of office. Banterman sat behind a massive desk while Veronica was perched at the desk's edge. On a small sofa, two men sat side by side. One was big and burly with an eye patch over one eye. An unlit cigar was clamped between his teeth and he held a beer. The other man was whiplash lean, with dark hair that was flicked with gray and a pencil thin mustache. He wore dark blue slacks and a long sleeved shirt. A tie and suit jacket, along with a hat and a dark green coat hung on a rack. He wore gloves and held a glass of wine. He looked familiar. Ami was sure she'd seen him before.

"Banner, are you telling me Sailor Moon is heir apparent to the company that right now, is all that's keeping Japan from economic collapse? And that she's a raving loony?"

"She is not the heir, Nick," the slender man said. "Japanese inheritance laws are different, much different than in America. Given that Kenji Tsukino is something of a conservative, Ms Tsukino's younger brother is far more likely to inherit their father's empire."

Nick glared at the slender man. "And I suppose you're going to tell me that she's not a raving loony either?"

"I've read the file, Nick," the slender man replied. "I was quite impressed that your agents even included her sizes, right down to her underwear."

"Strange, I don't got time for your intellectual snideness," Banterman interrupted. "You and Fury can argue later."

"What's the matter, Bruce?" Fury said. "I thought you liked Japan."

Banterman scowled. "Not when S.H.I.E.L.D. shanghaied me into it. Let me remind you, Fury, I'm only here because you promised to get Ross and his goons off my back for good and to get me a full pardon."

"Bruce and I want to be left alone," Veronica interjected. "No army, no S.H.I.E.L.D, and no nosy government watchdogs. We want to be ourselves, under our real names, and left alone."

"A Delta is never alone," Strange murmured and sipped his wine. "Reed, Tony, Charlie, and I are always with you."

"Don't pull the frat mysticism crap with me, Strange," Banterman snapped, jabbing a thick finger at Strange. "It's been too damn long since Delta House for that too work."

"Worth a try," Strange said with a shrug. "What makes you so sure Tsukino is Sailor Moon?" Veronica slid off the desk and handed Strange a file, who set aside the wine and opened the folder. "By the Moons of Maggorath," Strange gasped out a moment later. "You think she deliberately did this?"

"Not to herself," Banterman said. "But she let it happen and then came to me, just to see if the stories were true. It's the only thing I can think of that makes any sense."

Fury took the file from Strange, whose face was pale and had taken his glass of wine in shaking hands. "May Allora's hands preserve us," he said softly.

"Maybe it's some kind of psych thing. Schizophrenia or something," Fury growled. "Kid's got moxie. Hell, if her Daddy doesn't want her, I'll take her. S.H.E.I.L.D. could use someone with this much ice in their veins."

"Your empathy overwhelms me, Nicolas," Strange said acidly. "Do try to rein in your compassion."

Fury shrugged. "I'm a simple man, Strange," he said. "I didn't get to where I am by holding hands and singing Kumbya."

Strange paced, looking agitated. "This isn't right, this isn't what I foresaw."

"What did you forsee?" Banterman snapped, resting both elbows on the desk.

"Yeah, Strange," Fury said. "Why don't you drop the mystic crap and play it straight. You said the fate of the world was at stake, and that we needed Banner to pull it off. Richards and Stark both vouched for you, which is the only reason I agreed to this cockamamie scheme."

Strange sighed. "Gentlemen . . . Nick, Bruce, neither one of you are men of faith and what I have to say sounds bizarre enough to me . . . I can only tell you what I know, not if it's true . . . I choose to believe it is. Will you accept that?

Fury cracked open another beer and Banterman leaned back in his chair. "All right, Stephen," he said. "Let's hear it."

Strange stood in the middle of the room. "Does the term Antediluvian mean anything to you?"

Fury stared blankly, and Banterman's face scrunched up in thought. It was Veronica who answered. "Isn't it . . . I mean, it refers to the 'first civilization'? The one before the Mayans and Egyptians, and the like?"

"Close enough. Persia, Lemuria, Atlantis, what we know today as China and Egypt, all came from the Kingdom of Usaga, which built it's capital in what we now know as Antartica some eighty thousand to a hundred thousand years ago. According to my research, the Usagans tamed the continent, which was far more tropical back then and built a civilization of which even the Shi'ar and the Kree would be envious. Eventually, they made it to the moon through a series of . . . warp gates would be the best term, and from there, the rest of the solar system. This began what would be known as the Silver Millennium, under the guidance of the Queen, who ruled from a great palace on the moon known as the Moon Kingdom. From what I've been able to determine, the Moon Kingdom had split from Usaga by that point, though they remained friends."

"Hold up," Fury said. "You trying to tell me there's _people_ on the moon?"

"No. Humans have no presence on the moon. The Silver Millennium was just that. A Millennium. It, along with Lemuria and Atlantis were destroyed in the Fall."

"And the Fall was because . . ." Banner pressed.

"She's called Metallia. Supposedly she had another name before her exile, but I don't know what it was. What I do know is that she craved Usaga's power and seduced one of it's nobles, Beryl by name, into darkness. Beryl, a tactical genius, smashed the other great civilizations of the age and sent the survivors scattering. Lemuria, built in a volcanic crater, was buried, Atlantis, sunk. Persia, Egypt, China, forced to flee to Mesopotamia, to attempt to rebuild."

"Which is why we call Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization," Banner finished.

"Right," Strange said. "Beryl then turned her attention to her homeland and the Moon Kingdom. She undermined Usaga and corrupted four of the Moon Kingdom's high command. They, in turn, let her forces through the warp gates . . ."

"And the Moon Kingdom fell," Veronica said.

"Yes," Strange said. "It fell, taking Beryl and her forces with it. But before they did, the Queen of the Moon Kingdom worked one last . . . spell, you could say and banished Metallia, without her, there was nothing." Strange took a deep breath. "Here on Earth, the survivors had their own troubles and the need for history fell by the wayside. Within centuries, only legends remained."

"Then how do you know what happened?" Banner demanded.

"The few survivors of Atlantis and Lemuria banded together and kept the secrets and skills alive, passing them from generation to generation. Then En Sabah Nur came, and with him the Second Rising."

"Which is?" Fury asked.

"Every Usagan had certain superhuman abilities. Some were minor, others major. Some sort of evolutionary jump brought on by either their technology or skill with magic."

"Oh, shit, you're talking about mutants," Banner growled.

Strange nodded. "Nur was the first, but there are others, more all the time. For whatever reason, Usaga is being reborn and the Moon Princess can't be far behind. The Moon Kingdom was born from Usaga, after all."

"You think Tsukino is the key," Fury mused.

"Now that we know her name, yes. Usagi Tsukino means 'Rabbit in the Moon', for starters. There is also the fact that she is Sailor Moon. The Moon Kingdom which was born from the Usagans. Usaga, Usagi. She's searching for the Moon Princess. Don't you see, Nick? Too many similarities. Sailor Moon is the key to the whole thing. She may even _be_ the Moon Princess."

"And just what is so blasted special about this Moon Princess?" Fury demanded.

"According to the records, the Moon Princess was a 'High Evolutionary'; A very rare breed of Usagan with almost unlimited power and ability. It is said that the Lemurians cast auguries and found that the Moon Princess would be reborn and reclaim her birthright."

Banner steepled his fingers on the desk. "I don't think I like where this is going, Stephen," he growled. "You're saying that this Moon Princess, whoever she is, is going to take over the world, whether we like it or not?"

"Or at least the moon," Strange deadpanned. "Possibly Antarctica as well." When the other two men glared at him, Strange waved a hand. "Forgive me, I tend to let my questionable sense of humor get away from me." He took a deep breath. "What I've been able to find suggests that the Queen of the Moon Kingdom when it fell was as fair and just as any monarch could hope to be. In all likely hood, her daughter, the Moon Princess, is the same. Humanity could do worse."

"And?" Banner asked.

"The portents and signs are unmistakable. En Sabah Nur is stirring, Sailor Moon has appeared, and more and more Mutants appear daily. He can read the same signs I have and the Moon Princess will be far too tempting for Nur to resist. If we're lucky, he'll simply try to kill her. One High Evolutionary against another. If she wins, we'd be well rid of Nur. If he wins, he'll return to his lair to recover and we can deal with him while he's helpless."

Strange fell silent and remained so until Fury spoke. "And if we're unlucky?"

"He'll try to win her over to his side. Become her mentor and lead her down the dark path. We are talking about the two most powerful beings on the planet, Gentlemen. I don't have to tell you what their working together would mean for the rest of us." He faced Banner. "Which brings us to you, Bruce."

"Me?"

"You're not a High Evolutionary, but you are the only other person possibly capable of standing against them. If she goes rogue, you're our only hope."


	11. H E Double Hockey Sticks

Author's Note: First, I want to apologize for taking so long. This was written, edited, then a formatting error, and then rewritten again, and I'm STILL not completely happy with it. But them's the breaks.

Secondly, A shout out to Scorpinac, whose earned the title of number one fan for Amazing Spiderwoman. So this chapter is dedicated to him.

* * *

Friday Night . . . 

"A large, green thing," Beryl repeated with heavy sarcasm. "And it dropped out nowhere and beat you up."

Magnetite glared at her queen. She sat on a small gurney while a Healer youma tended to her wounds. She was heavily bruised and one eye was swollen shut. Her hair was matted with blood and she clutched at her side in obvious pain.

"I don't know what it was," she snapped. "All I know is that it was big, green, and fast. I didn't even get a good look at it since I was too busy trying to stay alive."

Beryl narrowed her eyes at the insolence, but forced herself not to take action. 'You suborned Okasa because she's the only person who can think like Tsukino in any way and you can't afford to have that psycho mess things up. Not at this stage,' she reminded herself. 'You need her alive . . . for now.' When she was sure she had banished her anger, Beryl spoke. "Are you sure Tsukino is out of commission?"

Magnetite's grin was savage. "Positive. Last I saw of her, she was laying on the sidewalk like a rag doll." She frowned. "But Kino and Mizuno might still be alive. By the time I got myself out of the rubble, all three were gone. No clue where they went." Her grin vanished. "Kino is all muscle and no brain, but Mizuno isn't the number one brain at Juuban for nothing. Not to mention she's got two other personalities in her head." Beryl raised an eyebrow and Magnetite smiled. "Oh, you're going to LOVE this."

* * *

Saturday Afternoon . . . 

Ami listened with half an ear to her juku teacher as she scribbled notes on her paper. The conversation she'd overheard at Banterman's had scared her far more than she wanted to admit, even to Mercury and Spiderwoman.

She and Flash had managed to get Usagi home before going home themselves, but Ami had been unable to sleep. Clearly, the Senshi weren't as discreet as they thought they had been.

But the real problem was Usagi. She was like a doll. Utterly lifeless. Ami couldn't blame her, she'd been shocked as well to find that Magnetite was Naru. But Usagi had shut down completely and that was truly frightening.

'Then you'd better start me back up,' snapped Usagi's voice in her head.

'Who was that?' Ami wondered.

'Me? I'm just the part of you that's WWUD. What would Usagi do? Don't worry, I'm not manifesting as another personality. Besides, it's crowded enough in here as it is.'

'I doubt that,' Spiderwoman snapped.

'Hey, believe me or don't, Webhead, I don't really give a rat's ass. But you should be asking yourself how to snap Usagi out of her funk.'

'She's right, my friends,' Mercury said, ever the voice of reason.

'We only have her word for what she is,' Spiderwoman said.

'Actually, I never gave you my word. I didn't even give you a noun.'

Mercury let out a sigh. 'You said you were the part of us that would ask what Usagi would do. If we could stick to that?'

'Sure. The answer is pineapple.'

'That's not an answer!' Spiderwoman exclaimed.

'I know,' was the smug reply. 'Look, your big problem is Banterman or whatever his name is. That dude with the pencil mustache said he was powerful enough to take down the Moon Princess, who, by the way, is supposed to be some kind of Messiah or something. Then you have this Nur freak whose about to wake up from his nap and from the sound of it, he's not a morning person. Not to mention the dude with the eyepatch had government and military written all over him. Figuratively speaking, of course. And that Stephen Strange guy. You should probably find out why he looks so familiar.'

'We do know him from somewhere, yes,' Mercury agreed cautiously, 'but Usagi is our friend, we should concern ourselves with her.'

'Yeah, that's a good idea. Even though Eyepatch Guy's agents have your underwear sizes written down somewhere, which means they've probably broken into your house, but hey, why worry about personal privacy?'

'One thing at a time!' Mercury snapped.

'Ding dong, reality calling! You can't take this one thing at a time! Usagi is out of commission, there's a conspiracy afoot that has the Senshi as the number one threat to God, apple pie, and puppies, and oh yeah, BERYL WANTS YOU DEAD! You need help, and I don't mean the psychiatric kind . . . though you could use one. Voices in your head arguing with each other? That's . . . weird.'

'She's right,' Mercury said. 'We can't do this ourselves. We need help.'

'I just said that.'

'The other Senshi would be the logical choice.'

'And if they were awake and in the neighborhood, you'd have heard something.'

'Tuxedo Mask.'

'BZZZT! Wrong! He considers the Senshi an irritant at best. Next!'

'There is no next.' Spiderwoman said flatly. 'We shall have to do this ourselves and die in the attempt if need be.'

'She's right, I'm afraid.'

'Somebody get me a spoon, I feel the need to gag. Will you two stop being so self-sacrificing and noble? Gendo would spit on both of you.'

'How dare you!' Spiderwoman snarled.

'You are not fit to speak his name!' Mercury snapped.

'Bite me. The guy's been dead for months. Get over it. Ami?'

Ami frowned as she considered the question. She supposed that they could always try to make a deal with the eyepatch man. He was hardly a friend, but from the sound of it, he no more wanted to see Beryl win than the Senshi did.

'No,' Spiderwoman said.

'It's a tried and true tactical theorem,' Mercury said. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Perhaps we can make some sort of deal. The one called Strange seems approachable, but I have no idea what we can offer them.'

Ami absently scribbled a note to herself regarding the logic pattern the teacher was assigning as homework.

'No,' Spiderwoman insisted. 'We can't trust him, we can't trust any of them.'

'We have no choice. We need their help. Tomorrow is Sunday, we should spend it doing research.'

Sunday Night . . .

Luna had been asleep on Usagi's chest when she sensed something approaching and the sheer power of it raised her hackles. But she was unafraid. The Mau weren't without power in their own right and Luna had not won her position as the Moon Princess' Guardian and advisor to the Senshi by being weak.

Like a ghost, the thing passed through the wards that Luna had set up around the house and began to coalesce at the foot of Usagi's bed.

Teeth bared and claws out, Luna stood up to attack and then saw the amulet around the figure's neck. She sat, tail curled about her feet and waited. Still wary, but if that amulet was the real thing . . .

"Greetings, guardian of the line of Diana," the figure said respectfully, bowing ever so slightly. His tone was formal, the language ancient. Tonight marked the first time it had been spoken in thousands of years. He removed the amulet and held it out to her for inspection. Ears twitching, Luna examined it with all eight of her senses. Yes! Thank the Mother, yes! It was the Eye!

"You are welcome here, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth," Luna replied formally in the same language, inclining her head. "How may my house aid you?"

"I have come to heal the child," he said. "By your leave?"

"Please, and gladly so," Luna responded and moved off of Usagi's chest.

"My thanks," the figure said and faded from sight. Usagi made a slight moaning noise and then stilled.

* * *

Monday Afternoon . . . 

"Gone?" Ami repeated. "Gone where?"

"No idea," Flash said as they entered the locker room. "I was going to make her come to school if I had to pick her up and carry her, but Luna said that she was up and gone before dawn. No clue where she went."

"Oh, dear," Ami murmured as she set down her equipment bag. The locker room was noisy as the team suited up for the game.

She'd spent all of Sunday afternoon at an internet cafe, doing research on everything she'd heard in the conversation between Banterman and the two men. None of what she'd discovered gave her any hope.

"Yeah," Flash agreed. "She's my friend and I hate not knowing where she is. It'd be just like her to jump up out of nowhere, just to scare us to death." Flash spun to look behind her, just in case, and then looked back at Ami, who'd removed her shirt and stood there in her underwear. "Jeez."

"What?"

"You. You're so . . . fine . . . it's disgusting. I'm jealous."

Ami blushed. "I'm a freak."

"Freak? Ames, you know how many girls would kill for your shape? Look at yourself!" She gestured at Ami's chest. "Look at those!" Flash indicated herself. "When I aint sleeping, eating, or doing school stuff, I'm working out and I still don't look half as good as you."

"Mores' the pity," Ami said coldly, remembering just how this had come to pass. "You did this to me."

"Yeah . . . about that . . . look, after the game, can we sit down and talk? There's something I need to tell you. It can't make up for all the shit I did, but you deserve to know why."

"Very well," Ami said in that same cold tone. "I'm sure it will be enlightening."

They finished dressing in silence.

The game was against Eriol Academy, a cross town rival to Juuban. There was a history of ruthless competition between the schools, each one boasting an impressive list of alumni.

The biggest concern was Tamayo Kuzuki, a tomboy with a reputation for being one of the few people who'd ever made Flash work for a victory at karate meets.

"Kuzuki is small and fast," Flash lectured the team as they gathered for the pre-game meeting. "She may not look it, but she hits hard and she likes to go for the neck." She pointed at the Twins, the only girls at school who were bigger than Flash. They also had very little neck to speak of. "You two keep her away from the puck, I don't care how. Kusanago, Sawamura, you two stick with me. Everyone else keep that puck out of our goal. Mizuhara, you're our goalie. We beat them and we're off to the playoffs, so shut them down fast. Word is that Eriol has a new bag of tricks and the less time they have to use it against us, the better. Any questions?"

One of the girls raised her hand. "How hard do we hit them?"

"As hard as they hit us," Flash replied. "But be careful. I'm not about to start racking up penalties this close to the championship. If we can win by default, so much the better." She gazed around the room. "Juuban hasn't been to the playoffs in ten years and the Championship in longer. I want gold in the trophy case, ladies, so let's do this."

Flash had told the team to hit Eriol as hard as they hit him, but Eriol was proving difficult to match.

Coach Sazaki called a time out and waved Juuban in.

"It's like they're possessed," Kusango gasped, leaning on the low wall between the ice and the team benches. "They're more interested in hurting us than the game."

Flash made a face. "And the damn referees are ignoring them."

"Crowd's loving it, though," Sawamura noted.

"Ideas, people," Sazaki said.

Ami looked towards Eriol. The team stood in a loose group at the far end of the ice, staring at them. Her danger sense was buzzing a warning, far too strong for only a possible threat.

Her eyes narrowed and she replayed the game so far in her mind and then realized the pattern and waved her hand to catch Flash's eye.

"Yeah?" the taller girl asked.

"I believe that there's a youma behind Eriol's unusual brutality," Ami whispered. "They've been targeting our fastest skaters and Kusanago in particular. If she is taken out, wouldn't I take her place?"

Flash's eyes narrowed. "They want you on the ice? Why? We can't transform in here. Not in front of all these people."

"And on the ice, we can't slip away to change either," Ami said. "I believe the term is 'Sitting Duck'." She looked over at Eriol. "Take Kusanago out. At least I know there's a trap waiting out there."

Flash invented a new swear word and then turned back to the coach. "Coach, I'd like to replace Kusanago with Mizuno." She hesitated. "Also, they've displayed excellent sportsmanship this far. I'd like to repay the debt generously."

Sazaki didn't even hesitate. "Do it."

Kusanago breathed a sigh of relief and climbed over the wall, while Ami pulled on her helmet.

"You heard Coach, Ladies," Flash said as they took their positions on the ice. "Show them what good sports we are."

The whistle blew, the puck dropped, and Ami's Danger sense screamed as the Eriol player leapt forward, stick slicing upwards towards her knees. Ami used her stick to parry and turned, letting her shoulder strike the player in the chest. There was no give, confirming Ami's theory of Youma possession, but Ami's own spider-strength made her equally unmovable, and the thrall, unlike Ami, had not been expecting this.

The girl went down hard and Ami took off after Flash and Sawamura, her speed and danger sense letting her avoid Eriol players, the crowd screaming insanely.

She dodged fallen Eriol forms and took up her position flanking Flash as the taller girl drove the puck towards the goal and it's glowing goalie.

Glowing?

Ami dropped her stick and grabbed Flash's arm as she turned her skates sideways, the blades sending up a wave of ice flakes as they skidded to a halt.

"What? Oof!" Sawamura said as she collided with Flash.

The three girls watched as the black disc of the puck sailed across the ice and into the net the, buzzer announcing another point for Juuban.

Eriol, however, had made no move to stop it.

A hush settled over the arena. It was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop.

"Guys?" Sawamura said. "Guys?"

"Run," Ami said and the three of them sprinted for the Juuban bench, practically flying over the ice, sticks forgotten.

As they reached the bench, Ami looked back. The Eriol team had gathered into two groups and then, as she watched, they merged into two youma.

The Arena erupted in screams as the crowd stampeded for the doors.

"Well that gets rid of the civilians," Flash said wryly. "Where's your costume?"

"In my bag," Ami said.

"Aw shit! So's my pen."

At that moment the lights went out and then the emergency lights came on, barely lighting up the arena. There was a soft sound, like two great wings.

Then someone started laughing, a loud, cackling laugh, one that promised pain and filled you with fear.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night," intoned a woman's voice. "I am the steel toed boot that crushes your prostate when your ass gets kicked."

"Well at least we now know where Usagi is," Flash said.

The lights came on and Sailor Moon was standing on top of the announcers booth, a hockey stick in each hand, her coat flapping in some unseen breeze. "And in the name of the Moon," she shouted, spinning the sticks in her fingers and then dropping into a crouch, one stick extended before her, the other held back, "Yee-haw, motherfucker."

If she frightened either of the youma, there was no sign of it. One of them sprinted for the booth, the other straight for Flash and Ami.

"Move!" Flash yelled and the two girls dashed over the ice, but not quick enough as the Youma collided with the wall, the shockwave knocking them both over and sending them sliding until they hit the wall.

"Shit! Ow! Damnit! Fucker!" Flash yelled, adjusting her helmet.

The youma loomed over them, pointed teeth bared in a menacing smile.

"Excuse me, sir." A large green finger tapped the youma on the shoulder. The youma turned and stared at a large, green chest covered by a black tank top. Large for it's kind, the Youma was used to looking everyone in the eye while standing. For the first time, it had to look up into a pair of brown eyes and a confident smirk. "Arena security," the emerald green behemoth continued. "The ice is for players and game officials only. I'll have to ask you to leave." The last word was punctuated by the giant's fist colliding with the youma's head with a sound not unlike thunder. The youma was knocked off its feet and flew through the air, smashing a hole in the bleachers.

"Locker room!" Flash shouted and they ran in the opposite direction.

Somehow they managed not to break an ankle as they hurried down the cement hallway and into the locker room.

"Ah jeez, what was my combination?" Flash muttered as she started to dial her lock but Ami slapped her hand away, grabbed each lock and twisted. With a sharp snap, the steel broke and Ami then grabbed the doors and tore them off their hinges.

'Oh, shit' Flash thought to herself. 'She did that and she wasn't even trying. And I've . . . note to self; never make her mad if I want to live to see twenty-five.' She dug into her bag and pulled out the pen.

"Jupiter Power! Make-Up!"

* * *

David Banterman, ne Bruce Banner, A.K.A. The Incredible Hulk, was surprised when he realized he was enjoying himself. He supposed part of it was that only one-third of him was still Bruce Banner, a small statured genius with some big brains. The other two parts of his psyche, the savage, primitive beast known as Hulk, and the almost amoral Mr. Fix-it, both enjoyed a good fight. But he was careful not to let himself go. Too much enjoyment, to much anger, and he would revert to Banner's human body, but with the Hulk in control. 

In the middle of a fight, that . . . would be bad.

"Damnit, Reed," he muttered as he picked up a steel bar and began beating the youma with it. "I should have ignored you when you pointed out the missing decimal point.' The youma punched him in the gut. 'No,' he corrected himself, lifting the youma over his head and throwing it the length of the arena. 'No, fuck that. I never should have let Tony drag me out to celebrate my twenty-first. That's where it all went wrong.'

There was a flash of color and then Sailor Jupiter and Spiderwoman were there.

"Thanks for the save," Jupiter said. "We had no idea how we were gonna get those kids away safely."

"Save it, Kino," Bruce replied.

"You're with S.H.I.E.L.D.," Spiderwoman said flatly.

"Only temporarily," Bruce replied as the youma charged towards them.

"Ya Hado Cyttorak!"

Both youma were suddenly yanked into the air, arms and legs bound by glowing bands of crimson. Floating across the ice was a tall thin American with a pencil thin mustache and gray hair at his temples. He wore a blue shirt and pants, and a huge red cape fastened about his neck by a golden amulet that looked like a closed eye.

"Took you long enough," Sailor Moon called out to him as she made her way across the ice.

"My apologies, Sailor Moon," he said. "It seems the spices from lunch disagreed with me. Accumulating the needed amount of toilet paper for cleaning took longer than I thought."

"Ew!" Banner said. "Stephen, TMI!"

Sailor Moon hugged Jupiter and Spiderwoman. "Sorry to worry you," she whispered and then stood back. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Doctor Strange, Mystic Master of the Occult, and you already know Banty-chan."

"Charmed," Strange said, bowing. Both girls automatically bowed back.

"I told you not to call me that," Banner growled.

"What are those things, anyway?" Jupiter asked, looking up at the floating youma who were struggling to free themselves from the crimson bands.

"The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak," Strange said. "Capable of binding a god, if need be." He smiled. "I didn't want to take chances."

At that moment, the doors slammed open and two dozen men in full riot gear ran in, guns at the ready.

"Ah, Nicholas," Strange said, "Punctual as any other goverment agency, I see."

"Fury," Banner growled.

"Can it, Strange," said the last man in. He was a big man, all tendon and ropey muscle. An eyepatch was over one eye and a lit cigar was clamped in his teeth. "Last thing I need some clown thinking he's funny. I want snark, I'll go over to Stark's for a drink." He exhaled some smoke as he looked up at the youma. "Don't look like much," he mused.

"They're far more powerful then they look, Nicholas," Strange said and then cocked his head listening to some distant sound. "I suggest we continue this elsewhere. The local constabulary may prove difficult to convince of our good intentions."

"Too many big words," Fury growled. "Damn educated yahoos." He raised his voice. "Back to the trucks boys and girls," he said. "That includes you three." He pointed at the Senshi and Spiderwoman. "We need to talk and I aint gonna do it here."

"Relax," Sailor Moon said, "it's all good. I cut a deal with Strange. Let's go."

As they walked out, Spiderwoman glanced at Fury's face. Something about his face suggested that whatever deal Sailor Moon had cut with Strange, he wasn't all that interested in honoring it.

* * *

The trucks bore the colors of a delivery service, but the inside was little more than benches. The Senshi and the S.H.I.E.L.D. troops squeezed inside along with Banner. Strange had commented that he would transport the Youma and himself before all three vanished in a flash of light. 

They were in the trucks for half an hour before they disembarked at the airport in a private hanger where they boarded a cargo helicopter.

Throughout it all Sailor Moon explained, having to shout to be heard over the noise of the engines.

"So after Strange helped me get my head together and realize what an arrogant bitch I've been, we started comparing notes with Luna. He thinks that because of my name, and a few other reasons, that I might be the Moon Princess. Which sucks. Who wants all that responsibility?"

"You?" Jupiter retorted.

"Responsibility no, Male harem, yes. The point is, it makes a twisted sort of sense. But we won't know if I am or not, unless the Silver Crystal can be found."

"Does he know where it is?" Spiderwoman asked.

"Nope. As soon as can, he's going back to New York to consult some procephies. He thinks that there might be something he missed."

"Yeah, I -- Holy shit!" Jupiter leapt out of her seat and stared out the window.

Rising out of the clouds was a massive structure of metal and spinning blades. The afternoon sun reflected off what few windows there were in the tower that rose off one side.

"How tall is that building?" Jupiter asked. "How was it built?"

Spiderwoman, for the first time in her existence, had a tremor in her voice. "I don't think that's a building."

"But it has to be," Jupiter protested. "Come on. Something that big, what else could it be? An air . . . ship . . . Oh My God."

The structure had risen fully out of the clouds and it was indeed an gigantic airship. Fully half a kilometer long, if not more.

"You rang?" Sailor Moon said.

"Welcome to the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier," Fury said, pride in his voice.

* * *

They were hustled off the copter before the engines had even shut off and into an electric cart, which whisked them through gleaming metal halls and to the double doors which opened to reveal a large room. Several small couches and chairs were arranged around a large desk which sat before a glass wall. A large emblem was painted on the floor and a Giant TV screen displayed a map of the world. 

Banner took one of the couches and filled it all by himself. The Senshi squeezed into another and Fury sat on the desk. The doors opened again and Strange entered with two more men, both in blue jumpsuits. One was as big as Fury, with white hair and dark skin. The other was shorter with a slight stomach and a small hat on his head.

Fury pointed at the dark skinned man. "Colonel Bridge and the other one is Colonel Dugan. Better known as Dum-Dum."

Dugan tipped his hat. "Charmed."

"Wait a second," Jupiter said, sitting up straight. "You're all speaking English. How come I can understand you?"

"Trade secret," Fury said gruffly.

"Makes sense to me," Sailor Moon said.

The doors opened again and a beautiful woman entered, blond hair tied back. She wore the same uniform as Dugan and Bridge and she carried a folder of papers.

"Val Cooper," Fury said. "All right, Strange, go over it again."

The following sixty minutes made Jupiter's head hurt. Strange explained about some long gone place called Usaga, from where another place called the Moon Kingdom came, which Beryl then trashed.

"Yeah, yeah," Sailor Moon butted in. "But why? Why did she trash it? Was her sensibilities offended or something?"

"I believe I can best answer that."

Tail held high, Luna gracefully leapt onto the desk and sat next to Fury, tail curled elegantly around her legs.

"My name is Luna, my people, the Mau, are pledged to serve the Line of Diana. I was the Moon Princess' tutor before the Fall. I escaped to Earth, but my memory was . . . in pieces. It has only been in the past few hundred years that I remembered enough to begin piecing together who and what I was. But it was not until I awoke Sailor Moon that I began to remember more."

"All right," Fury said, scowling. "Enlighten us."

"Understand," Luna said. "There are still holes and things I do not remember. And to answer your question, Grover," yellow eyes focused on Bridge. "I got on board this airship with help from Strange. Which, if you applied some logic, you would have figured out. Clearly, your education is deficient and your tutors substandard."

Dugan snickered quietly.

Luna returned her attention to the room. "As Strange has said, the nation of Usaga evolved on Earth. All to soon, flying machines were invented and the Usagans began to wonder about the Moon. An ambitious noblewoman named Diana financed a craft and blasted off from Earth. Upon landing, Diana decided to move her holdings and people to the Moon. Using magic, they made a small section of it's surface habitable and built a wondrous city. You humans today call it the Sea of Tranquility. I believe the ruins are still there."

Jupiter watched as Fury and Cooper exchanged looks. There was movement of eyebrows, slight shifts in body language and then Cooper excused herself and left the room in a hurry.

"Diana's daughter, Serena, formally established her domain as a Kingdom. separate from Usaga, who chose to graciously accept the split, at least publicly. Privately, there was several generations of cold war between the two. Diana's great granddaughter, the youngest of eight children was a brilliant scientist and built the first of several spaceships, which she and others colonized Mercury, channeling water and their intellect to make it habitable. In time, seven of those eight princesses would go out and colonize one of the planets in the Solar System, using certain traits and abilities unique to them. Only Aehl, Nazduseare, and Senit were not colonized."

"What, what, and what?" Banner broke in.

"Sorry," Luna said and actually blushed. "Aehl, what you humans call Pluto, Nazduseare was between Mars and Jupiter, and you have yet to discover Senit."

"What happened to Planet Nazduwhatever?" Sailor Moon asked. "Did somebody kick it someplace tender?"

Luna glared at her charge. "To continue. Senit was and is little more then a very large ball of ice and Pluto is already occupied."

"Wait," Bridge held up his hand. "Hold on. Is? Not was?"

"Hm." Luna regarded Bridge with a teacher-like stare. "Perhaps I spoke in haste about your tutors, Grover. Yes, is. Pluto is home to a creature of vast powers. It takes human form, calls itself Setsuna, and promised terrible vengeance should there be any attempt to land or come near her world. Or at least, that is what Queen Melaniadesire told us after conferring with it." She gazed at the room. "I would advise honoring that bargain, if I were you."

"The point," Bridge growled.

"If you do not understand the past, the present will not make sense," Luna shot back. "But very well. In time, the Moon Kingdom ruled all the planets save Earth, whom it maintained a friendship with. Now, soon after contact with Setsuna was made, it appeared in the Queen's throne room in the form of a human. It announced that each of the seven planets that made up the Moon Kingdom must send their crown prince or princess to the Moon to serve as Senshi; the royal court and bodyguard to the Moon's crown prince or princess. It then knelt and swore oath to the Moon Princess as her Senshi. The other planets followed suit."

"And Beryl?" Dugan asked. "What about her?"

"I'm getting to that," Luna said. "As I said, Diana was a noble of Usaga and had certain hereditary titles and duties. One of those was keeping safe an artifact of vast power called the Silver Crystal. It feeds on energy from Earth, but also provided the power that allowed the Moon to be habitable. Roughly ten thousand years ago, the Moon Princess, who was my charge, fell in love with the Prince of Earth, Endymion by name. It soon became clear that they intended to marry."

"So Beryl wanted to break up the marriage," Dugan mused. "She wanted Endymion for herself, right?"

"Correct," Luna said. "However, remember that Beryl serves Metallia, who is our true enemy. More to the point, the Crystal feeds on Earth Energy. I believe Metallia feared not the union, but rather any results of it. A child of the Earth and Moon would almost certainly carry Earth energy within themselves. Perhaps even self-renewing without the need for Earth. That, combined with the child's own powers, and strength of will, the Crystal's powers could double. Evil would have no safe haven from such a person."

"So why are we lookin for the Moon Princess then?" Fury said. "Sounds to me like any Earther would do the job."

"The Crystal answers to the Line of Diana alone. It has no other master," Luna replied. "We can't use the Silver Crystal, or even find it without the Moon Princess and we won't find the Moon Princess without Sailor Moon."

"Which brings up a point," Sailor Moon said. "How much are you paying us?"

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Pay?"

"Yeah. You want our help, we want cash. Ten Grand American per youma. Each."

"What happened to doing it for your country?" Fury asked. "For the world?"

"My country can go to hell," Sailor Moon replied in a voice as cold and empty as death itself. "And the world has yet to do me any favors."

Strange made a small gesture, more sensed than seen.

Fury nodded. "I see. Why don't you three go down to mess and get something to eat," he suggested. "We'll mull that over and get back to you." The doors opened and a man in a blue uniform entered. "Wayne will escort you."

"Going to talk about us in private?" Sailor Moon said asked. "Or is this a time out so you all can have sex? Can I watch?"

Dugan roared with laughter as everyone else made choking noises as they stared at Sailor Moon, eyes wide in shock.

"No?" Sailor Moon asked. "Pity. Hot yaoi action is always nice." She shrugged. "Ah well, come on ladies, let the boys talk about us." She led the way out the door. At the door, Jupiter turned around and gave them a smile.

"Sorry about that," the Senshi of Thunder said. "She's . . . you know." Jupiter tapped her forehead and shrugged.

"Will you come on?" Sailor Moon said, reappearing. "They can't get their bone on if there's womenfolk around." She grabbed Jupiter's arm and yanked her out of the room, the doors hissing closed in their wake.

"Mother preserve us if that child is the Moon Princess," Luna sighed.

* * *

The cafeteria was on the other side of the airship, a massive room filled with tables. It was mostly empty with only a few men and women in blue uniforms, other in gray. The food was very western, but they ate it anyway. Spiderwoman pushed her mask up just enough to clear her mouth and nose to eat, but the other two had no such problems. 

"AH-CHOO!" Sailor Moon sneezed into her bowl of soup. "Someone's talking about me. Or is that if your ears are burning?" She dug into the pockets of her coat which lay on the bench next to her. "Lessee, penguins, the Mona Lisa, an Arctic Fox, where the fucking hell are the fucking tissues?"

Jupiter shrugged, her eyes fastened on the thin white scar on Sailor Moon's neck. She'd seen it briefly while In Banterman's office, but that had been brief. It looked like a knife or razor cut, about where someone would hold a knife to the neck, right where it met the shoulder.

"Of course," Sailor Moon continued, blowing her nose, "why shouldn't they talk about me? I am the greatest human being alive. Next to Osamu Tezuka, of course. Astro Boy is so cute!" She whipped around to look at the serving counter. "Ooh! Cupcakes!" She ran up to the counter.

"Hey . . ." Jupiter said, looking at Spiderwoman. "Is Ami . . ." Jupiter paused, wondering how to put it. "Is she . . . you know . . . in there? I need to talk to her."

What she could see of Spiderwoman's face subtly changed and became slightly more open. "What?"

Jupiter took a deep breath and began to speak. She told of her childhood, of what happened at Okinawa, and her life since. She talked about how it hurt to see Ami on the news all loved while she had no one. She opened her heart and spoke from it.

When she was done, Ami was silent for the longest time. "The why doesn't make up for the what," she said. "Telling me all that isn't an excuse."

"It aint supposed to be," Jupiter said. "It's just . . . you should know why I did all that, is all. Nothing more."

"It doesn't make up for it," Ami repeated, and then laid her hand on Jupiter's and smiled. "But it's a start."

"Chocolate!" Usagi exclaimed sitting back down. "They had reams and reams of chocolate!" She looked at them, and then down at Ami's hand. "Aw man!"

Jupiter knew she wasn't supposed to ask. She wasn't supposed to say a damn thing. She didn't want to know. But her mouth refused to obey her.

"What?"

"There's hot yaoi action going on in Fury's office," she exclaimed, causing a few people at nearby tables to spit their food out in shock. "Now there's Yuri in here with you two, though I didn't think Ami swung that way, and here I am with nothing. How come I never get any action?" She crossed her arms and sulked. "Just for that, neither of you get any chocolate."

* * *

"You're the one who called a time out, Strange," Fury said. "Talk. And no lecturing like you did in Banterman's office. Bottom line it." 

"In order to cure Tsukino, I used a technique called Uishuio, which suppresses the patient's emotions and imagination. In this manner, they may see clearly and be healed. While under Uishuio, she displayed emotion several times. This is impossible. Or should be. What is more troubling is that she is displaying symptoms consistant with antisocial personality disorder, as well as dissocial personality disorder, and has since the age of twelve, if the reports from the S.H.I.E.L.D. investigators are to be believed."

"I said bottom line it," Fury growled.

"While her reaction to Okasa and her loyalty to what friends she has argues against it, I submit that, given the stakes, we must assume the worst. Gentlemen, and Lady, there is a high probablility that we are dealing with a sociopath, possibly with psychotic tendacies."

Dead silence reined in the room and then Fury lit a cigar and took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, speaking only when he'd exhaled the last of the smoke.

"Well, shit."


	12. Beryl's Da Bomb

Bored.

Usagi leaned her chair back on two legs and attempted to balance a pencil on the tip of her nose as she listened to the student president drone on about some upcoming festival. It was one of the big meetings, with not only class reps, but the club presidents as well. Fortunately, most of the class reps were also club presidents, so the room wasn't as packed as it could have been.

Bored. Bored bored boredey bored bored.

"Representative Tsukino!"

Usagi's chair came down and she came to her feet. "Yes, my liege!" she said, saluting. "The warriors of Nan-Jahar stand ready. The barbarian hordes of Al-Amherac shall die on the plains of Nagahla under the hooves of our horses! We will slaughter them like pigs, loot their houses and amuse ourselves with their women! For the glory of Nan-Jahar!"

The president nodded, deciding that he probably shouldn't think about that too hard. "Er, thank you, Miss Tsukino, but I was wondering about your homeroom's plans for the Spring Festival."

"Oh." Usagi looked thoughtful. "You sure you wouldn't rather have Al-Amherac slaughtered? Wouldn't be any trouble. We'd be done by lunch."

"Ah, no. Perhaps after the festival."

"Oh." Usagi looked down at the notebook in front of her and began to outline plans for a food booth serving Western cuisine.

* * *

"Nan-Jahar?" Flash asked as she, Ami, and Usagi stood in the front entrance, putting on their street shoes. "The Barbarian Hordes of Al-Amherwhatever?"

"Al-Amerhac," Usagi corrected. "And what about it? I had to say something."

"'Yes?' usually suffices."

"Oh sure," Usagi said, rolling her eyes. "If you want to be rude and impolite, yeah."

Flash sighed. "I'd ask what goes on in that head of yours, Usagi, but I'm scared you'd tell me."

"I know," Usagi agreed, and laid her hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "I feel the same way."

While Flash tried to work that one out, Usagi clapped her hands and began to walk backwards. "Anyways, we're losing sight of the important things here."

"Which are?" Flash asked.

"One, Ami has a date coming up and now that she has cleavage, should she use it to land this Watanabe guy? Two, what would Luna look like if she were human? We'll go with the second one since it's more important."

"A young woman," Ami said after a moments thought. "With black hair. Very pretty."

Flash shrugged. "I'll go with Ami. Pretty young woman."'

Usagi turned around, sidestepped a light pole and fell into place beside Ami. "I think she's a little kid. With cat ears and a tail. Except she can hide them. She can also transform into a Senshi. Except she uses a phone and a fan as a weapon."

Flash looked at her for a moment. "Usagi, that's weird, even for you. Next you'll be telling us that Tuxedo Kamen is a jewel thief."

"Well he might be," Mamoru said from behind them. "Who's Tuxedo Kamen, Meatball Head? New boyfriend?"

"Don't I wish," Usagi muttered and then grabbed Ami and spun her around to face Mamoru. "Actually, Mammy-chan, we're trying to decide something."

"It's Mamoru," he said through clenched teeth.

"Right, Mammy-chan. Anyways, pretending you're straight for a moment, what would you prefer? Ami no cleavage? Or . . ." She pulled down the collar of Ami's school blouse. "Ami cleavage?"

Mamoru's mouth opened and closed a few times as he stared at her. "Wha--what do you mean, 'pretending that I'm straight'?"

"Well, look at you. Gray pants, black turtleneck with a green suit jacket?"

"What does that have to do with my sexuality?" Mamoru shouted, causing several people to look at them curiously.

"Oh, nothing, but I did get you to embarrass yourself, so it all works out."

"You . . . I . . . you . . ."

Usagi smirked and patted his cheek insultingly. "You're right. Just a hint of cleavage. Thanks, Mammy-chan. Come along, ladies."

The trio walked away, leaving Mamoru to stand there, gaping like a fish.

* * *

"I hate her," Mamoru moaned, resting his forehead on the table. "I hate her, I hate her, I hate her." As usual, after a run in with Tsukino, he had a headache.

On the other side of the table, Motoki, Mamoru's best friend, raised an eyebrow and took a sip of soda. "Then why do you keep talking to her?"

"I don't want to, God knows I don't," Mamoru said. "Every time I run into her, either she says something and I can't help it but say something back, or I can't resist poking fun at her."

"Sounds like when you run into Sailor Moon," Motoki observed.

Mamoru's head came up off the table. "Not out in public!" he hissed.

"Oh, relax," Motoki assured him. "This cafe is just about deserted and the waitress is probably making out with the manager in the back room. Who's gonna hear us?"

Mamoru looked around. True, the cafe was virtually deserted, and there was only a cashier at the register, filing her nails.

Furthermore, Mamoru and Motoki were at the far end of the cafe, well away from the register.

"Told you," Motoki said with an air of satisfaction.

Mamoru grunted and resumed resting his forehead on the tabletop. It was cool to the touch and the Formica smelled nice. The cleaner they use here smelled like lemons. Mamoru liked lemons. He wondered if he would taste lemons if he licked the table.

"It is odd, though," Motoki said, "why would those three know about your alter ego?

Mamoru's head came up, eyes wild. He'd been so focused on Usagi's insult to his sexuality that he'd completely overlooked her friend's comment. For a moment, he was gripped by utter paranoia and then logic asserted itself. "Don't be ridiculous Motoki," he said. "Sailor Moon is nothing like Tsukino. She's brash, loud, insane, and obsessed with making me look like an ass. Do you know what she said about my cape the other night?"

"Something about how it makes you a low-rent Batman, but that's beside the point."

"It is the point. Sailor Moon is a mental case and Tsukino is . . ." he trailed off as he realized the same term could apply to Tsukino as well. "No," he said at last, shaking his head. "I don't see it."

"De nile isn't just a river in Egypt, Mon," Motoki said in a bad Jamaican accent.

"Oh shut up," Mamoru snarled.

* * *

"All right . . ." Flash said, shifting the text book on her lap. "Question Five."

"Zombie Monkey Buttsex," Usagi responded and clacked her chopsticks in Flash's general direction before returning to her bento.

Flash rolled her eyes. "Usagi, this is algebra. How the hell does that have anything to do with . . . what you just said?"

"Easy. Z over M times B equals six," Usagi replied smugly.

Flash stared at her and then decided not to ask. Instead, she looked down at Question 5, which was . . . Z over M times B equals six, provided M equaled two and B equaled one. She stared at Usagi again, who returned her stare with an innocent smile.

Flash shook her head. 'Remember the rule', she reminded herself, 'asking Usagi how she does stuff like that gets you a migraine.' Instead, she looked at Ami, who was staring off into space.

"Ami?"

"Twelve over two times one equals six" Ami replied absently and then blinked at them. "Sorry, what?"

"Ami, you've been distant for the past three weeks, ever since the hockey game."

"It's not the hockey game," Ami replied, resuming staring into space.

"The trip to that airship?"

Ami shook her head. "It's the date tomorrow. I'm not sure . . . it's for the best."

"Oh, right," Usagi said, "Tomorrow's also when Gendo died, isn't it?"

Ami nodded. "I was going to spend it at the cemetery."

Flash shrugged. "Look, just pay Usagi five thousand yen to call you over some made-up emergency at an hour or so into the date. You duck out saying you gotta help a friend, then got to the cemetery and do whatever is you do. Then you just tell your aunt you hated it, won't go near him ever again, and there you go! Everybody's happy."

Usagi stared at her. "Flash, I am shocked. Shocked and horrified that you think so little of me. What kind of friend would I be to stoop so low that I would take part in such a rude and crass scheme?"

"Not enough money?"

"Not enough money."

* * *

As she had with that first date with Gendo, Usagi helped Ami prepare. This time, Ami wore dark colors and very little makeup.

Aunt Mai clearly didn't approve, but Usagi fast talked her out of making Ami go change.

She was good at that.

Flash met them at the train station and they traveled to the park in silence.

"So where are you supposed to meet this guy?" Flash asked.

Ami pointed. "Over there by the fountain," she said. Thankfully, it wasn't the same park that Gendo had died at. She wasn't sure if she could handle this without freaking out again if that was the case.

The trio stood there for a while, not saying anything until Flash let out a little purr.

"What?" Usagi asked.

Flash pointed. Walking down the path was a tall young man with bright red hair down to well past his shoulders. He was lean without being skinny, tall without being a giant and wore a black turtleneck, and dark blue trousers. Sunglasses covered his eyes and his hands were in his pockets as he walked without a care in the world.

"Hubba hubba," Usagi said and then nudged Ami. "Think he's your date?"

"I doubt it," Ami said.

"Yeah," Flash agreed. "How can anyone that hot be single?"

"I'll be his mistress," Usagi leered. "Flash, wanna share? I bet there's enough for both of us."

"What happened to one guy only?"

"Exceptions to every rule, Kino," Usagi said loftily, "exceptions to every rule."

The young man paused, looked at the fountain and then began walking towards them.

"Excuse me," he said as he stopped a few feet away. "But is one of you Ami Mizuno?" He removed his glasses, revealing eyes of jade green and met her eyes.

Ami felt something she didn't even know was there slot into place. It felt . . . right. He smiled and she felt a stab of heat in her belly.

"I am," she said, but it came out in a squeak. She coughed and managed a bow. "I am," she said more normally.

He returned the bow. "Makato James Wantanbe. M.J. to my friends. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Ami said and indicated Flash and Usagi. "My friends. Makoto Kino, and Usagi Tsukino."

"Call me Flash or lose a kneecap," Flash growled.

"Monkeys steal my underwear at night," Usagi chirped.

M.J. didn't even bat an eye, he was staring at Usagi's hair. "Um," he said after a moment, "I'm sure you've heard every meatball joke ever told and I like my insides inside me. What do you say I made the wisecrack, you ripped out my guts, and we'll call it even?"

Usagi's smile was feral. "Oh you're clever," she purred, "I LIKE you."

"I'm glad," he replied. "I've heard the stories."

"I haven't," Usagi muttered.

"What do you mean?" Flash asked. "You planted half of them."

"SHHHHHHHH!" Usagi hissed.

"Well you were bragging about it the other day," Flash said as offhandedly as she could.

"Will you shut up?"

Flash shut up, but she was smirking. Usagi glared at her, promising certain doom as payback at a later date.

"I-I . . ." Ami stuttered and then she bowed. "I'm sorry, I can't!" With that, she ran out of the park.

M.J. stared after and then scratched his head. "What?"

Usagi watched Ami fade into the distance, her mouth a thin line. "It's not your fault," she said after a moment, "do you know who Gendo is?"

M.J. scratched his head, thinking. "I believe Ms. Mizuno mentioned him, I think."

"He died on this day several months ago," Usagi explained, "Ami blames herself for it . . . she wasn't there, ya know?"

M.J. nodded. "I can . . . relate."

"Mai," Usagi said sardonically, "thinks Ami has grieved long enough and set her up with a nice piece of eye candy so she'll get over Gendo. Never mind that grief doesn't work like that," there was a cold anger with an underlying note of rage in her voice. "Just replace you with Gendo, and everything's normal again."

M.J. nodded and then shrugged. "Well, we are neighbors, perhaps at a better time." He slipped on his sunglasses. "In the meantime, ladies, perhaps you would like to feast on some eye candy and ice cream?"

"Actually," Usagi said, taking his arm, "I have a better idea."

* * *

Two hours later . . .

"Your better idea was to dress him up in women's clothing and take him to Tokyo Tower?" Flash asked.

"It's all wrong," Usagi said, "all wrong."

"The cross-dressing or the fact that if I didn't know better I'd mistake him for a woman?" Flash asked, thoroughly enjoying Usagi's irritation. "He's a very convincing woman, incidentally."

"But . . . but . . . he's supposed to be upset! Flustered!"

"About?" M.J. asked, rejoining them.

Usagi seemed to be at a loss for words and M.J. chuckled.

"Until fairly recently," he said, leaning on a railing and crossing his arms, "relatively speaking, that is, it was illegal for a woman to act, but plays and such still called for female roles. An entire art form devoted entirely to men impersonating women evolved and it's still practiced today. As it happens, it's taught at my theater school and I try not to miss sessions."

"And Mai knew this?" Usagi asked in a voice of ice.

"I believe it came up in conversation once or twice, yes," M.J. replied with a total lack of concern. "Among my interests in things like Western Cinema, Animation, the internet, chess," he turned to look at Usagi and this time, he smirked, "and that I've a gift for improvisation. I don't surprise easily, by the way."

Usagi stared at him, making sputtering noises and then she smiled broadly and threw her arms out to the side. "I love it!" She cried out, spinning in place. "God, I absolutely love it!" She laughed. "Well played, Mai! Well played!"

* * *

Spring came to an end and turned into summer. Usagi, Flash, and Ami passed out of junior High school and High School loomed on the horizon.

With school out, they devoted their energies to Senshi business. Which was few and far between, leaving them with plenty of free time. Most of the time was spent at Ami or Usagi's house, just hanging out.

Flash and Usagi would compete at video games or watch Hong Kong kung-fu movies while Ami worked on her laptop, a birthday present from her Grandfather.

It was about the middle of summer vacation when Flash and Usagi went over to Ami's house and found her with a desktop system set up on her desk, the laptop on a stool, and surrounded by papers and news-clippings. There was a writing pad on her lap, and Ami was working both computers at once, occasionally stopping to write on the pad.

"What the shit hell?" Flash asked.

"Transcribing porn?" Usagi asked lightly.

Ami shook her head. "I'm compiling all encounters with Beryl and her forces by location, time and date, and anything they might have taken. I'm positive there's a pattern. If we can predict their movements, we might be able to ambush them and put an end to this."

Flash leaned over Ami's chair and looked at the screens. "You made a mistake," she said. "You have us fighting them here at the mall last month, but this here says they were raiding a metals warehouse."

"I did?" Ami looked at the screens.

"Yeah," Usagi said, joining them. "And here, the night at the amusement park, you have them stealing water tanks."

Flash chuckled and pointed at the screen. "And look here, that night when you guys saved my ass, you have them . . ." she trailed off as her brain suddenly put it together. "Ohmigod."

"I think we found your pattern, Ami," Usagi whispered.

Ami's fingers flew over the keyboard of the desktop, assigning a red dot to the places where they had fought the youma, and blue where they hadn't. Within minutes, the truth was spelled out in color coded detail. For every battle the Senshi had been involved in, youma had been stealing something elsewhere.

Silence reigned in the room. Each of the girls felt they should say something, anything to break the silence, but even Usagi was at a loss for words.

Five minutes passed, ten minutes, half an hour, an hour.

"That bitch," Flash spat, "that clever bitch." She invented several new curses.

Ami nodded. "Beryl drew us out with a Youma attack in one place and once we'd engaged the Youma, her forces conducted a raid elsewhere."

"She sucker-punched us!" Usagi exclaimed.

"So what did she steal?" Flash asked.

Ami consulted her notes. "Water tanks, raw cadmium, refined metals, something called V I twenty-eight from the university, and a compound referred to as A D M four twenty-three from Stark Enterprises Japan. There's also several computer thefts, and a prison break in New York, a man named Elliot Franklin, a physicist. Some message boards are also talking about aim and hydra, whatever that means."

So Beryl is building something," Flash mused, "but what?"

"That or teaching a greek myth to sharp-shoot," Usagi said.

"I don't know," Ami admitted, making a face. "A weapon?"

"But maybe there's someone who does," Usagi said. "Suit up, ladies."

* * *

Betty Banner had the most amazing mouth. Bruce Banner knew this because she was currently seated astride him as he reclined in the furo and using that mouth right where his neck met his shoulder.

Bruce let out a small moan as Betty used her tongue and her teeth, tracing a line along his collarbone and across his neck.

Suddenly, her head came up, nipped at his chin and then she kissed him.

From downstairs, came the sound of breaking glass.

"Ding Dong! Senshi calling!" came Sailor Moon's voice up the stairs from the clinic. "Oh, Banty-chan!"

"We're not home," Bruce said, slouching into the water. "Pretend we're not home and maybe she'll go away."

"Hey!" Sailor Moon called again. "Bruce Banner! Come out come out wherever you are."

"How the hell did she know my real name?" Bruce demanded.

Betty kissed him again. "Let's go ask, handsome. Before she decides to come looking for you."

A few minutes later, wearing a shirt and pants, Bruce made his way down the stairs to the clinic, Betty at his side. "What?" he grumbled.

Sailor Moon slapped a sheet of paper onto one of the exam tables. It was a map of Tokyo inset with a map of New York. The map of Tokyo was covered with red and blue dots and one blue dot was on the Map of New York. Writing was next to each dot.

"This is the location, time and date of every Youma attack or unusual instance in the past six months," she said. "Including what was stolen. The red dots are where we fought youma, the blue dots are where we didn't. Notice anything?"

Banner's first thought was that there was a same number of blue and red dots and then he started reading the writing.

"Oh, God," he groaned, and sank onto a stool. "No, no, no, no."

"Bruce?" Betty asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Honey?"

Bruce looked at his wife, tears running down his cheeks. "How did they find it, Betty? How?"

"Find what? Bruce, what's the matter?"

"Look at what they stole. Recognize the materials?"

Betty leaned over the table and read. Then her face paled and her legs buckled. "Oh, God!"

It was at that moment that Strange came in. "Sorry, for calling unexpectedly, Bruce, but I've come across an interesting . . ." he looked at Bruce and Betty's stricken faces. "Perhaps some tea first?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, the Banners, Strange, and the Senshi sat in the main living area of the house. Bruce and Betty were clinging to each other, and even Strange looked perturbed.

"Good tea, Doc," Sailor Moon said. "Now could we cut the melodrama and somebody tell me why the hell you're acting like the world has come to an end? Or is about to?"

"Gamma," Bruce said, as though it explained everything and got a rude look in reply. "Sorry." He rubbed his cheek. "About fifteen years ago, I got my doctorate in Nuclear Physics, second youngest person to do so. My thesis work was on Gamma Energy, a type of fusion reaction with theoretically more power output then nuclear energy for about half the cost. At the time, the existence of such energy was theoretical. I proved it's existence and how to harness it."

"This was the waning days of the Cold War," Betty said. "There was a strong conviction that the Soviets would go to war rather then see Communism fall. America wanted something better than nukes."

"A . . . gamma bomb?" Jupiter asked.

Betty nodded. "After an . . . accident during testing, the project was scrapped and as far as I know, all data was destroyed."

"Evidentially not," Strange said. "Bruce, how big could this bomb possibly be, if that is what they're building?"

"Big."

"Big?" Sailor Moon asked. "Big like a repeat of Hiroshima big?"

Bruce shook his head. "Worse. Unless they're planning on building a bunch of Gamma snoopys, there's enough here to turn the entire business district into rubble and that doesn't include the effects on any survivors or the potential side effects."

"A revival of the whole Kogal thing?" Usagi asked. "I mean, you're talking about some really heavy tanning, right?"

Banner glared. "This is Japan," he replied, with some effort to keep his voice level. "We're the western side of the Ring of Fire. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"That we're the western side of the Ring of Fire," Usagi responded with a nod and vacant smile.

Banner gritted his teeth and silently counted to ten. "How you can grow up in one of the most seismically active countries in the world and not have a working knowledge of seismology?" Banner had grown up in Los Angeles, so like most native Californians, he'd picked up the basics without even trying. However, he'd gone a few steps further and actually studied it before turning to nuclear physics.

"Very easily," Usagi assured him.

"Just keep going," Flash said. "It's not worth it."

"Right. Okay, you all know that the Earth's surface is made up of gigantic plates of crust floating on magma, right?" Everyone nodded. "An Earthquake is basically what happens when two plates collide and Japan sits right over . . . what is it? Two? Three fault lines? Anyways, the point is, Japan has one of the highest number of earthquakes per year. It also has a large number of volcanos, which do their own share of earthshaking if they go off. This is compounded by the fact that Japan isn't exactly a single land-mass, but a series of islands. Islands are the above water portions of underwater mountains, which are often dormant or extinct volcanos." Banner hated referring to volcanos as extinct. After all, everyone had thought Mount Saint Helens was extinct, and look what happened.

Flash scratched her head. "Okay, so?"

"So, if a gamma bomb of this size and power goes off it could trigger the fault lines and cause an earthquake of at least nine on the Richter scale."

"The trigger effect?" Ami exclaimed. "That's still theoretical! I mean, there's the data from the nuclear tests in the Middle East, but . . ." she trailed off, looking at him helplessly."

"Okay, so its a really bad earthquake," Flash said, "so?"

"Do you know what causes tsunamis?" Banner asked and Flash shook her head."

"Underwater earthquakes," Banner replied. "So the gamma bomb goes off, triggering a series of earthquakes, Tokyo is devastated and the whole country feels the quake. It's possible to rebuild, but it'll take a while. But, those same quakes could set off quakes in the Pacific , which will set off tsunamis both there and possibly in and the Sea of Japan. At the very least, we're talking about the obliteration of Japan and Hawaii, the destruction of most, if not all of East Asia, and probably heavy damage to western North, Central, and parts of South America. If you want to take it one step further, a chain reaction scenario that sets off a worldwide quake. Billions will die and God knows what else it would do to the environment. That's assuming the planet doesn't shake itself apart in the process."

"Oh," Flash said, her face pale. Had Banner gone into what would happen to any nuclear reactors, he knew, she probably would have fainted. Hell, just thinking about it in the abstract made him lightheaded.

Banner nodded. "It's improbable, yeah, but we can't afford to not consider it. I just wish I knew what this stuff they took from Stark was all about."

"International secrets," Fury said from the doorway. With him were two very large, dark skinned men in black suits. Fury carried a steel box under one arm and one of the men carried a briefcase. "Big, international secrets." He indicated the two men. "This is Captain Aban and the one with the briefcase is Colonel Mobou of the Wakandan Guard."

"Wakandan?" Sailor Moon asked. "Did somebody give Fozzie Bear his own country?" Neither of the two men so much as twitched. "Aw," she moaned, "that was a good joke. Come on, people!" No response. "Jeez, tough crowd."

"I don't recall calling you, Fury," Bruce growled.

"You didn't have to, Strange wouldn't have come by unless it was important."

"And those two?" Jupiter asked.

"Mizuno left her computer on and you three left in costume and in a hurry. We got curious." Fury shrugged. "You want answers or not?"

"All right, Nicholas," Strange said, "the floor is yours."

"I want to remind all of you that what I'm about to tell you is not to leave this room." He waited until everyone had nodded. "About ten years ago, a new alloy was discovered. Slightly more rare than gold." From the box under his arm, Fury removed a single dark gray bar of metal and handed it to Jupiter as she was closest. "It's called Adamantium. Less mass than steel and ten times as tough. Virtually unbreakable and shields radiation even better than lead or steel. The bar Jupiter is holding weighs only about half a pound, if that, but offers better shielding at a centimeter thick than five inches of lead."

"Damn." Sailor Moon said.

Fury nodded. "Around the same time, a new nation emerged from isolation; Wakanda. It's a very old country steeped in tradition and lore, but also violence. Wakanda is also sitting on a motherload of precious metals and ores. Including this stuff."

Colonel Mobou opened his briefcase, revealing a lump of metal about the size of Sailor Moon's fist. "Vibranium," he said in a mellow voice.

"It's metal with surprising conductivity, especially with sound and rare enough to make Gold look like copper," Fury explained. "At the time, King T'Challa, newly crowned, sold off five pounds of it and made himself rich. Used it to send himself and others to schools around the world and they came home and turned their nation into a fortress. Wakanda is sitting on an estimated four billion tons of Vibranium and they don't like outsiders."

"Any who wish to invade our land," Aban said, "will find themselves very sorry. We do not give mercy to invaders."

"Anyways," Fury said. "The university here in Tokyo was working with Stark Enterprises on deep space research. There was a pound of Vibranium on loan to the university as part of it. This lump Mobou is holding was in storage and under S.H.I.E.L.D. guard. My people managed to get it out of the lab and away from the . . ." he made a face. "Youma." Fury clearly didn't care for the supernatural.

"Crap," Banner said, scrawling equations on the map and then slammed his fist down on the table, shattering it. "How much of this adamantium stuff did they take from Tony?"

"It was stored in liquid form and there was about maybe fifteen gallons."

"Fuck," Banner swore again. "Fuck fuck fuck."

"Bruce?" Strange asked and Banner let out a sigh.

"Bad."

"Define 'Bad', Banner," Fury demanded. "The word 'bad' makes me twitchy."

Bruce repeated his explanation of Gamma bombs and fault lines and Fury looked sick by the time he was done.

"Crap. Banner, you never should have invented that damn thing."

"I almost didn't," Bruce replied. "Blame Reed Richards."

"If we live through this," Fury said, "you can tell me the story. In the meantime, suggestions?"

"Evacuate the city," Strange said simply.

"Have you been smoking too much incense?" Fury demanded. "There's no way to do that, not in any reasonable time frame."

"Your job is to save lives, Nicholas!" Strange shouted.

"Wakanda must get the Vibranium back!" Mobou shouted, wading into the fray.

Banner joined Strange in the shouting and this left the Senshi to look at each other.

Sailor Moon closed her eyes and began to laugh quietly. "I can't escape it, can I?" She took a teacup from the remains of the table and hurled it at Fury's head.

Reflexively, he ducked and it was enough to cause a break in the shouting as they all looked to see where it had come from.

Slowly, Sailor Moon stood. "We're not waiting, and we're not evacuating. We're going after them. Beryl wants a fight, she'll get it." Sailor Moon's eyes were cold, hard, and perhaps most frightening; sane. "And now," she said in a flat voice, "I'll tell you how."

* * *

According to Banner, the only things Beryl needed to complete the bomb was a supply of cobalt, and some uranium. The beauty of the gamma bomb was that while it needed uranium, it could be in any form. The more enriched, the better the blast.

S.H.I.E.L.D had no idea where Beryl intended to get the cobalt, but there was a shipment of uranium fuel rods arriving in Tokyo in two weeks by ship.

The plan (with some refinement since Usagi was in favor of shooting tactical nukes through the portal) was simple; Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter and Spiderwoman, along with Banner, Strange, and several squads of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would sail out to the cargo ship before it arrived in the bay. Disguised as officers in the military and nuclear techs, they would board the ship for "an inspection" and then wait for Beryl to strike. When they did, Strange would force their portal to stay open while they launched a counter attack.

Mobou and his Wakandans (at Mobou's insistence) would be accompanying them in order to retrieve or destroy the vibranium, but the primary objective was to get the Senshi to Beryl and take her down.

The hard part was Ami. Usagi came and went as she pleased and Flash answered to no one but herself. But Ami had Aunt Mai, who would hardly approve of her niece running off to another dimension and possibly get killed.

In the end, it was Usagi who fast talked Mai into believing that she, Ami, and a few friends were taking a trip by boat to a private island resort.

Once that was out of the way, all that was left to do was wait and by unspoken agreement, they did most of their waiting at Flash's and even Usagi was nervous. Ami could tell because the blonde wasn't cracking very many jokes. At times, entire hours went by without Usagi making some comment or holding one-sided conversations with the TV.

Two days before the ship arrived, Ami packed a bag and prepared to leave for the island. Underneath the clothes and swimsuits were refills for web-fluid, her laptop, and a tool set. The plan was to head for Banterman's and lie low until it was go time.

Usagi and Flash knocked on the door just after ten and Usagi swore all sorts of promises to Aunt Mai about safety, keeping in touch and the dangers of excessive tanning. All of which she fully intended to break, Ami knew.

"You're going to hell for lying, you realize that," Flash said to Usagi as they walked down the walk and out the gate.

"I'll be in good company," Usagi said, making a gesture of dismissal. "Besides, ruling the dead is a worthwhile career goal."

"Oh, I see. A realistic ambition."

"Career goal, Flash. It's a career goal."

"You know you have mental problems, right?"

"I prefer the term 'psychiatric issues'."

"You're insane."

"Sanity challenged."

"Ami!"

The trio turned to see M.J. running out of his house. "Ami!" he called again and vaulted the fence in a stunning display of athleticism. "Ami!" he called a third time as he ran up to them and wasn't even breathing hard.

"Oh, my," Flash murmured.

"Ami! I'm glad I caught you. Look, Usagi told me about Gendo and what that day meant to you and I'm really sorry about it."

"It's all right," Ami said quietly, not looking at him. "You didn't know."

"Yeah, but I'd still like to take you out on that date."

"I'd like that," Ami heard herself say and inside her head, Mercury and Spiderwoman began shouting at her for this betrayal of Gendo's memory.

"Great," Usagi said. "It's a date."

"So just where are you three off to, anyways?"

"We're gonna sneak aboard a ship carrying enriched uranium and assuming it doesn't blow up, we're gonna head to another dimension and fight with an evil sorceress and probably get killed in the process," Usagi declared with an absolutely straight face. "If we survive, we should be back in a few weeks."

"So it's Senshi business then. Well, be careful," M.J. replied, not taking his eyes off Ami. "I hate losing friends."

Three jaws dropped in sheer shock. "Buh?" Usagi asked. "I say buh?"

"I . . . I . . " Ami stammered and raised her head, and her eyes seemed to automatically lock with his. "I . . ." Everything else but those green eyes seemed to fade away and a thousand possibilities unfolded before her.

"If I could go with you, I would," he said, breaking their eye contact and jolting Ami back to reality. "Good luck." Then he turned and ran back inside.

"Motherfucking piss ball damn it all to hell," Flash swore as she started after him only to be stopped by Ami's hand on her wrist. "Sonuva bitch, Ami, what is it? He knows! He's a threat to us!"

"He's not a danger," Ami said. "He won't tell."

"What makes you so sure?" Flash demanded.

"Spider-sense?" Usagi asked and Ami nodded.

"All that means is he's not a threat to her!" Flash retorted hotly. "That sense of hers does jack shit to protect anyone else."

"Flash, what makes you think she alone is exempt if something happens to you or worse, me?" Flash frowned and Usagi pressed her point. "Call it a gut level instinct. He's safe."

"Wasn't it a 'gut level instinct' that lead you to spray paint a naked woman in repose on the side of the gym?"

"Yup!"

"You know, I'm still high off the paint fumes from that."

"So?"

"It was three weeks ago!"

"Is that bad?" Usagi asked as she grinned impishly and then took off down the sidewalk, Flash in hot pursuit.

Ami hefted her bag. M.J. would just have to wait as much as she wanted to know how he knew and why he wasn't a threat, she had to be pragmatic. Beryl first, then M.J.

It was just the way things were.

* * *

Turning away, she ran to catch up with her friends.

The trip to Shinjuku was spent in silence, at least on Ami's part. Too much was happening at once and she needed to process and analyze it all.

Flash crossed her arms and glowered at anyone who came near them.

Usagi spent the trip chatting with a fat kid with bad skin and even worse hair. Their conversation apparently revolved around analyzing an ecchi hentai series on an artistic level and searching for meaning and content.

"Porn is an art form too," was Usagi's response when Flash gave her look as they left the train in Shinjuku. "What? You can't masturbate and find inspiration at the same time?" Flash opened and shut her mouth several times and Usagi sighed. "Flash, you need to get laid."

"That's what got me into this mess!" Flash snarled.

"Oh yeah," Usagi said thoughtfully and hopped a low barricade.

Had either Ami or Flash been paying closer attention, they might have noticed that in doing so, Usagi had perfectly duplicated M.J. when he'd hopped his fence earlier.

* * *

"Okay," Usagi said, "lemme see, if I have everything." She emptied out her pack onto the living room floor and began inventory. "Change of clothes, ostrich egg, toothbrush, incendiary grenades, fifth of whiskey, ooh, better drink that." She did so. "Um, house keys, car keys, Banty-chan's keys."

"Hey!" Banner snapped, reaching over and snatching his keys from the pile. "Damnit, don't do that." He paused. "Wait a minute, those are MY car keys!" He took those back as well. "Jeez."

Usagi ignored him and continued her inventory. "High explosives, mercury switches, coupon for half off at McDonald's, cell phone, transit pass, condoms, clean handkerchief, yaoi manga, cards with my MySpace URL on them, Pictures of Ami's ass to sell, and most importantly, a nail care kit. Can't survive anywhere with nails that haven't been cared for, doncha know."

Many years later, Ami would reflect on how everyone present that night were wondering not about the explosives and how she'd gotten her hands on them, but instead about the ostrich egg.

"I got a question for you, Tsukino," Banner said as Usagi repacked her bag. "What's with the meatballs?"

Usagi blinked at him. "You know, no one's ever asked me that before." She shrugged and began undoing the balls as Betty and Flash came in from the kitchen chatting animatedly about recipes. With a soft rustle, Usagi's now unbound hair spilled down around her, making her look like a golden cone.

"Oh my," Betty breathed, touching the golden strands. "It's so soft. And there's no split ends. You have got to tell me your secret."

Usagi shrugged. "Monthly appointments at the best hair salon in Tokyo. They wash, dry and pile about five tons of hair care products in it. I keep it in the 'meatballs' because its the only way I can wear it without tripping on it, the sheer weight giving me a headache, or pulling me off balance. I haven't cut it since the night my Mom died at Okinawa." She held up her hand, palm up and then tipped it, as though pouring something. "She came up with the style; thought it looked cute. I kept wearing it like this in her memory, at least at first, now . . ." she shrugged. "It confers on me my powers of fabulousness."

Banner rolled his eyes. "I curse the day I met you."

"I curse the day they stopped making Samurai Pizza Cats," Usagi said. "I also curse the ice cream shop, but nobody seems to understand why."

* * *

The boat was packed as it skipped and bounced over the water.

On deck, Sailor Moon leafed through her yaoi manga. She wore a buttoned up lab coat, and her hair was hidden under a cap. She looked like a very short, rather effeminate man. The disguise had been her idea and had been whipped up in the time it took to fetch the clothes. She leaned against the railing, unconcerned about falling over the side and appeared to be oblivious to anything but the manga in her hands.

Sailor Jupiter and Spiderwoman had presented a problem. Both were tall and most definitely female in all regards. In the end, they had dressed up in navy uniforms. It had been the first time in ten years that Sailor Jupiter had let down her hair for reasons other then showering or sleeping and she felt a little weird. She also was trying to not throw up. She was supposed to be in the Navy, after all.

Spiderwoman was not nauseous, Spiderwoman stood as still as a statue. She was also using her powers to adhere to the deck, letting her move with the ship and not have to worry about keeping her balance. At the moment, Sailor Jupiter hated Spiderwoman.

In the pilot's cabin, Nick Fury stood, smoking a cigar, staring the black dot of the cargo ship in the distance. Beside him, several Japanese S.H.I.E.L.D agents disguised as high-ranking officers and Stephen Strange, who wore a suit and tie and an expression of polite boredom. At the back of the cabin was Bruce, also clad in a suit and doing everything he could to look like a government agent.

"Nervous, Nicholas?" Strange asked.

"Why would I be nervous, Strange?" Fury asked, "all I'm doing is leading my troops on a possible suicide mission because of a threat you swear to me is real and our only real weapon is a young girl who is quite possibly either Jesus with an double X chromosome or the Antichrist. Which one depends on not only the decisions of an egyptian mutant nobody's heard from in two thousand years, but the off chance said possible messiah might decide to turn evil just to annoy people. Why would I possibly be nervous?"

"Ah," Strange replied. "My apologies. I thought the fact that you've smoked five cigars in just under an hour and are puffing on a sixth might mean you're nervous. Again, I apologize."

"Stark taught you sarcasm in college, didn't he, Strange?"

"We were roommates for several years, I might have picked up a few things in that time."

Through the windows, the cargo ship loomed larger.

"Strange, are you sure you can do this? Are you sure SHE can do this?"

"If not, Nicholas, then we're all dead."

* * *

The ship's captain wasn't happy to see them, but Colonel Fury of the U.N. security forces (his public title), was not a someone to be trifled with. Puffing out cigar smoke with every sentence, he browbeat the poor man into accepting what was essentially a legal hijacking of his ship and his authority.

Then came the waiting. Nobody knew when Beryl would strike, and not even Strange could guarantee that she would strike.

"I hate waiting," Sailor Moon declared to a coil of rope. "It takes too long."

For once, nobody disagreed with her.

Then, when the ship was only half an hour from the dock, the radio crackled to life. "Colonel, this is Decoy, the ducks are at the lake. Over."

Decoy was the code name given to three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who, disguised as the Senshi and Spiderwoman would confront the youma when they attacked somewhere in Tokyo. The idea was that Beryl would believe that the Senshi had arrived and attack the ship. Assuming of course, that she wasn't planning on attacking elsewhere, or even attacking the ship in open water.

"'Bout damn time," Fury said and turned to the captain. "Captain, if you want to keep your skin and your crew intact, I suggest you abandon ship." Nearby, Strange used magic to shed his suit and don his "work clothes".

"What the? Who are you people?"

Banner loomed up behind him. "The man said abandon ship."

The captain decided then and there to find a new line of work.

When the boat that had brought them to the ship was racing away, Fury clicked the radio. "All right, Decoy, you know what to do." He switched channels. "This is it, people. Take your positions and lock and load."

* * *

The portal slid open and Magnetite smirked as she gazed down over the ship that held their prize. After this, there was just the cobalt and then the real work, the Onslaught, could begin. It would be glorious.

"What's with all the people on the deck?" Kunzite asked as the youma prepared to go through the portal.

"The crew wanting to get off the ship," Magnetite replied. "Every sailor whose ever lived wants shore leave after a long voyage. That's why it's called shore leave. Idiot."

* * *

"It's open," Strange said. "There's an open portal on deck just before the bow. Very clumsy, they're expending a hideous amount of power just maintaining it."

"I don't see anything," Banner said.

"It won't be visible until they come through," Strange replied. "By Ammorath's Eye, the amount of power being used. It's hideous."

"So you can't keep it open if they close it?" Fury asked.

Strange laughed with grim humor. "I didn't say that. They're using that much power because they're clumsy. This will be too easy."

"That's what Custer said."

Magnetite led the youma onto the ship's deck and stood there, hands on her hips. The crew stared at her, and she stared back, tasting their fear. 'That's right, bitches,' she thought. 'Your asses are mine.'

"They're not afraid," someone called out. "Now turn around and bend over so I can talk to you face to face."

Magentite was floored as not only was she and her youma suddenly facing a veritable sea of guns, all pointed at her, but Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, and Spiderwoman were standing in the middle of the sea of guns.

"S-Sailor Moon?" Magentite said, mouth agape. "But . . . you . . . the mall . . . how?"

"It was a pretty good plan," Sailor Moon said. "I have to admit, you had us fooled."

Magnetite forced her emotions under control. "So, Sailor Moon, amaze me. How did you figure it out?"

"I didn't. Sailor Jupiter did."

"And your being here with all these soldiers?" Magnetite said through gritted teeth as she realized that it was all falling apart.

"I made a few friends who knew some people," Sailor Moon said as she was joined by a gigantic green man in black clothing and a man in a red high collared cape that was fastened with an amulet in the shape of a glowing eye. "Greenskin here is Bruce Banner, inventor of the gamma bomb, and the other guy is Stephen Strange, who wields the Eye of Agamotto. What does that make you again, Doc?"

"The Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension, Master of Mystic Arts, and Gatekeeper of the Vishanti Realms, among others," Strange supplied with a grandiose bow.

"Booyah," Sailor Moon said. "Now, would you like to fight us, or run?"

'Retreat you fool!' Beryl's voice echoed in Magnetite's mind. "You can not hope to stand against the Sorcerer Supreme! RETREAT! Close the portal!"

Magnetite did as she was told, but Strange had already shifted the portal's power source to his control. She only managed to move the Dark Kingdom side of it away from the palace.

"Ladies first," he said to Sailor Moon.

"All right!"

* * *

"You fool. You idiot." With each word came agony too great to describe. Beryl collapsed to the floor of her throne room, smoke rising from her skin as Metallia berated her, flaying her with pain as she spoke.

"Not only has your grand scheme for dealing with Sailor Moon been broken, but the Sorcerer Supreme is aware of us! How much more clumsy can you possibly be?"

"Please, Mistress," Beryl moaned. "Please."

A fresh jolt of agony seared through her. "Sailor Moon and the Sorcerer Supreme are in the Dark Kingdom!" Metallia shouted. "The only thing worse then this is if the Moon Princess showed up wielding the Silver Crystal! And that would just be one more example of your incompetence!"

"Mistress, please, does not having Sailor Moon here mean that we have the advantage?"

"Yes . . . yes, this could be a good thing after all." A feeling of revitalization flowed through Beryl and she got to her knees. "If Sailor Moon came here, to the palace, she would be in our power. Can it be done?"

A smile twisted Beryl's lips. "Easily, Mistress, her personal hatred for me overrides her common sense without fail. I will use myself as bait and lure her here. Then I will imprison her in one of the black crystals and use her power to complete the Onslaught."

"Do not fail me, Beryl. Even if Sailor Moon should somehow strike a fatal blow, I will not let you die."

"I live to obey you, my Mistress," Beryl said, bowing her head.

"See that you do," Metallia replied and withdrew.

Beryl stood up and inhaled deeply. "To, me, my generals. Kenji, Franklin, come to the Throne Room immediately. We have plans to make. All Youma, secure the palace. We are about to have company."

* * *

"Holy Shit," Sailor Jupiter said as she gazed over the Dark Kingdom.

It was like staring at a rocky desert. The portal had deposited them in a sort of outpost. A single square building on a flat stretch of stone. Nearby, a five car vehicle sat on the stone. It reminded Jupiter of a bullet train without wheels.

She returned to looking at the desert. There were a few trees, thin, with black bark. The sand was purple, the rocks a dull gray. The sky was black as night, but no stars and a ringed planet peeked up over distant mountains. At the base of those mountains, Jupiter could make out the glittering lights of a city.

"Building's deserted and empty," Fury said, joining her. "Probably a supply depot from the looks of things." He jerked his thumb at the "train". "Near as Banner can figure, that thing is some kind of flying train. Plenty of room for us and my boys and girls have just about finished transferring the stuff we brought through the portal."

"Great," Jupiter muttered. "Does this place give anyone else the creeps or is it just me?"

Sailor Moon and Spiderwoman joined them, followed by Banner and Strange.

"Freaky," Banner observed.

"Fairly standard for another dimension," Strange said. "Nicholas, we have a problem. The portal will close unless I am here to maintain it. I cannot join the assault and we are not alone out here either. It is nothing to be concerned about, at least for me, but your men are not so well protected."

"Options?" Fury growled, flicking his cigar away.

"We take the train," Sailor Moon said and darted for the vehicle.

By the time they caught up with her, she was in the cab, flicking switches and pressing buttons, with no results. Here and there, a light came on, but otherwise, nothing.

"Piece of crap!" Sailor Moon snarled, kicking a wall. With a sub-harmonic hum, the controls lit up. "Or not." She sat in the cab's only seat and began flicking switches. The hum became a whine and the floor shook slightly.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Banner demanded.

"Nope!" Sailor Moon replied cheerfully.

"What a shock."

"Look," Sailor Moon said. "Strange said he had to stay here. He didn't say anything about the rest of us, and he sure as hell didn't say anything about me."

"Only out of politeness, I assure you," Strange's tone of voice was dry. "Nicholas, I will pass the word to your people to board the train immediately. Once you leave, I will try and move the portal to someplace in Tokyo proper. Good luck." With that, he left.

Fury muttered something under his breath and left the cab as well.

"Sailor Moon, maybe you should let Banner drive," Jupiter suggested. "You've never even had lessons."

"I've watched movies, how hard can it be?"

Jupiter and Banner's eyes met and they knew they were thinking the same thing;

Famous Last Words . . .


	13. From Champion To Chief

"I have come, father," said the prince as he knelt before the throne. The king stared down at him, his single eye seeing all, even what was in his son's heart."You know what this is about," the king stated.  
"Aye," replied the prince. "I do"  
"Then you know why you must stay here." The king was compassionate. His son was a warrior born and sworn to the people of the world as their guardian. To be forced to not stand with comrades in battle, especially with what was coming, was no doubt painful.  
"Aye, but I do not like it. Why must we stay here? Surely we can do more good if we stand with them"  
"It is not our fight," the King replied. "All the Gods will not interfere in what is coming, aye, and we will be having our own problems soon enough"  
The prince nodded. "Tell me, father, what problems do you speak of"  
"He is coming. We must be ready to meet him"  
"We shall, father, I swear it"

* * *

The youma had not always been monsters, not as the humans saw them now, twisted and mutated beyond recognition. Master Troya of the clan Neruim knew this, for he was one of the few left who remembered the old times. Before the Dark Queen had been exiled to their world from hers. Before Metallia.

But now, Neruim was but a shadow of its former self. Where once legions had marched upon their foes, leaving only the broken and dead in their wake, the clan was made up barely enough to exist without dying. Mettalia had used Nerium, corrupted the Elders and waged war on the other clans, bending them to her will.  
"Stand ready! Incoming train! Move or be gutted like worms"  
Troya's eyes narrowed and his lips curled back from his teeth in disgust. Clan Chief Khandir was a fool and what he lacked in brains, he made up for in a thirst for blood. Metallia had given the young idiot power enough to defeat his predecessor, a youma Troya could at least respect, as he was unwilling to needlessly throw away lives.  
But Khandir had no qualms about wasting lives on the battlefield. If Troya had the power, he would have ripped out Khandir's throat before the fool had even left the challenge circle.  
But he didn't. So Troya followed orders, and tried to teach the younglings the old ways, to give them some sense of honor. It took in some, but not enough.  
Khanadir's lust for blood should have led Nerium to war. To be wiped out in battle was preferable to being the clan that served in the cargo bay of the palace. But even here, Khandir's incompetence and stupidity showed and it fell to Troya to see to the shipments of supplies and their proper handling. It was odd to struggle at so menial a task, but Troya did so. He would not let Nerium's honor be any further stained by his own actions.  
He stormed forward, bellowing orders and goading the others into the groups he'd devised, one that could empty any train within mere hours of its arrival, less, depending on the load.  
The train pulled in with a sound that was a cross between a roar and a whine and Troya went to the engine to welcome the driver.  
The door slid open and Troya stared at the black-clad, jade green monster within.  
"Who?" he gasped.  
"Oh sorry," the giant replied, "my card"  
Troya didn't even realize that he'd been hit until after he bounced off the wall and crumpled to the ground.  
As he raised his head to see, he saw the giant charging the rest of his clan and a figure in green and white -- Troya stared. Yes, it was a Senshi. But if there was a Senshi here, then so must be . . . he got to his feet and then picked out the figure clad in black, wielding a sword, golden hair tied up in a pair of spheres.  
Yes, Sailor Moon, Serenity's champion, the chosen one. YES!  
Roaring, Troya charged into battle. This would be a good death.

* * *

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter shouted and reveled in the feeling of electricity coursing through her body and out her hands.  
"Total slaughter! Total Slaughter! I won't leave a single man alive," Sailor Moon sang as she carved a gory path through their foes with a longsword.  
"Where the hell did you get that?" Jupiter asked in an "oh shit" tone of voice"  
"You like it?" Sailor Moon chirped. "Luna gave it to me before we left"  
"Luna?" Jupiter asked, dismayed. She'd always given Luna more credit for brains than to give someone like Usagi Tsukino anything sharp.  
"It's a scepter," Sailor Moon explained. "But it can turn into a sword too. Anything I want . . . well except for a life size and naked Legato Bluesummers"  
Jupiter decided not to think about it. In fact, she was going to stop thinking about anything Sailor Moon said.  
Migraines had no place in a fight.

* * *

No one was really sure when the silence started, but it swept over the cargo area like a breeze.  
Bit by bit, human and youma stopped fighting and looked around, finally coming to rest on Sailor Moon, who stood on one of the massive cargo containers. In one hand, she held a cross between a war hammer and a battleaxe and in the other, the head of a youma.  
"This guy," Sailor Moon said, "claimed to be your strongest warrior. I just killed him and took his head. Anyone else want to argue the point"  
Troya was in a state of shock. Sailor Moon was no friend to the youma, but even a youngling knew that Sailor Moon was the Moon Princess' champion. His brain began working, churning out a desperate plan. She had to be smarter than Khandir, and if he could get an audience with the Moon Princess . . . yes. It would not be easy, but it could be done. But he would have to move fast.  
"Hail the Clan Chief!" he bellowed, raising his spear high. "Hail Sailor Moon, Chief of Clan Nerium!" Automatically, the other Youma followed his lead, bellowing out similar echoes. Troya then grabbed the arm of Keitian, one of his more adept students. "Get to the others," he hissed. "Round up Khandir's toadies and the suspected loyalists to Beryl. Keep them away from the doors and com systems. Be quick!" Keitain nodded and moved into the crowd.  
Troya nodded to himself and looked back at Sailor Moon, who was desperately trying to cover up her shock and surprise. In two quick steps, he leapt out of the crowd and onto the cargo container.  
"Clan Chief!" He shouted, kneeling before her. "I am Troya, Keeper of Clan Lore and Warmaster of Clan Nerium. I pledge my loyalty and that of the clan to you. May you rule with wisdom and honor." He rose. "My loyalty comes with a price, Sailor Moon," he said softly.  
Her eyes narrowed, became cold and calculating. "I'm not surprised," she replied. "Let's talk"

* * *

Sometime later, Troya sat with Sailor Moon, two senshi, the jade green giant who he learned was named Banner, and a man the others called Fury.  
"You said your loyalty had a price," Sailor Moon said. "Name it"  
"Freedom," Troya replied simply. "We youma were once a spiritual race. Warriors, yes, but we knew honor and the ways of the spirit. But then Metallia came and she twisted us into the monsters you see today. All younglings are also twisted, for her dark magic cannot affect the truly innocent until they have tasted the air with their own lungs. I have watched my race, my clan, become mockeries of what they once were, and it sickens me. We need to be free"  
"Then why hail Sailor Moon as Clan Chief?" asked Banner. "She's not even a youma, much less from your clan"  
"She serves the Moon Princess," Troya said simply. "If she can give me an audience with the Moon Princess, let me state our case, then perhaps the Moon Princess can undo what Metallia has done to us"  
"Why should we believe you?" demanded Fury. "How do we know that this isn't some complicated trap"  
"I can only offer you my word of honor that I speak truthfully," Troya replied. "Metallia is a fearsome and dangerous opponent; you need my clan's help to get near her or Beryl"  
At Beryl's name, Sailor Moon's expression became one of feral hunger and then thoughtfulness.  
"All right," she said. "Troya, you come with us. The rest of your clan stays here"  
"What? Alone?" Fury demanded.  
"No, with your men," Sailor Moon replied. "It goes like like this; We, the Wakandans and Troya go looking for Beryl while your men stay here and the youma stay away from the doors and communicators. The first sign of betrayal from either Troya or the Youma and your men open fire"  
Troya shivered, more from Sailor Moon's matter of fact tone than her words. "And if we prove true"  
"Then we take you with us. Otherwise, you stay here and your fate is your own"  
Banner and Fury looked at each other.  
"I don't like it," Fury growled. "Any holier and that plan could be Pope"  
"You got a better one, Nick?" Banner shot back. "Like it or not, we could get this done a lot faster with a guide"  
"By holier do you mean that its full of holes and by rights shouldn't work?" asked Sailor Moon.  
"Yeah," Fury said, wariness in his voice.  
"Are you kidding? Those are the best kind!" Then she whirled to face Troya, the hammer-axe pointed at his throat. Her expression was hard and meeting her eyes felt like staring at the point of a sword. "Khandy or whatever his name was kept bragging about how this thing symbolized his rank as Chief," she said in a voice colder and more empty than death itself. "I got bored with the noise, so I chopped off his head. Swear to me on this weapon and on your clan that you will not betray me to Beryl and that your promise of loyalty is true"  
"I swear," Troya said, laying his hands on the hammer-axe. "In the name of Clan Nerium on its own symbol and by all the Gods, I pledge my loyalty to you unto death and beyond"  
Sailor Moon then laid her free hand on the hammer-axe. "In the name of the Moon," she said, "I swear that I will lead Clan Nerium to freedom. When I mete out Justice, it will be with mercy, and when I lead you to war, it will be an honorable fight. Whatever strength I have, I will not let this clan or the youma race spend one day more in thrall to Beryl. I will give you the freedom you seek if its the last thing I do"  
"So be it," Troya whispered, and he meant every word.  
"Did you feel that?" Jupiter whispered. "It's like everything just shifted somehow"  
"Yeah," Fury said. "I still don't trust him, or her." He turned away from the group and waved Moubu and Carol Danvers over. There were plans to make.

* * *

The Wakandans took point as they left the cargo area. Jupiter found herself next to Troya as they cautiously moved through the halls and corridors.  
"These are yours," Troya said to her, laying a hair ornament in her hand. "I led a squad of thirty during the final day of the War with the Moon. You met us in the east courtyard"  
"I what?" Jupiter demanded. "I don't remember that"  
"You weren't told?"  
"Told what"  
"The Senshi are more than the defenders of the Moon Kingdom. It was a well known fact that when a Senshi dies, she is reborn into a new life. It was the design of the creature called Setsuna, I understand"  
Jupiter couldn't think of what to say and examined the hair ornament instead. It was a pair of spheres on a stretchy type of cord, much like the one in her hair now. The spheres, however, seemed to be made of crystal and there was something moving inside.  
"Gas from your homeworld," Troya told her. "A miniature storm of some sort, I believe"  
"Thanks?" Jupiter said, the word coming out as a squeak.  
Troya nodded. "You met us in the East Courtyard. It should have been an easy battle, but you killed every member of my squad before falling to my hand. It was a good death, and a worthy battle. So I took that," he nodded at the ornament, "as a trophy." He sighed. "It was a glorious war"  
Jupiter looked ill.  
"Pleasant conversation," Bruce observed from behind them, where he'd been bringing up the rear. "Why don't you"  
"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!" From around a corner, the Green Goblin came, a pumpkin bomb in each hand. "Enjoy your stay!" he shouted as he threw them and the humans and one youma scattered as the hallway echoed with thunder.  
Spiderwoman rolled with the concussion of the blast. She remembered all too well the circumstances of her last fight with the Goblin and was determined to make him pay.  
Leaping off the wall, she used a web-line to swing towards him, but the Goblin only sneered and aimed a strange weapon at her.  
Spiderwoman fired another web-line to change trajectory, but the Goblin was already firing.  
Two bright flashes of light and Spiderwoman screamed in pain, a scream that could not have come from a human throat and spoke of unthinkable pain and then she fell to the floor.  
"Third time's the charm," Goblin sneered as he aimed the weapon, only to curse as a well aimed shot from Fury made it explode in his hand.  
"Two out of three!" he cackled as he zoomed away.  
"Spiderwoman!" Sailor Moon yelled as she and Jupiter knelt next to their friend. "Spiderwoman, can you hear me?" She fumbled for the watch and Spiderwoman's costume reverted back to the Navy uniform. Blue eyes fluttered open. "Spiderwoman"  
"She's not here"  
"Not here? Who's not here?" demanded Jupiter.  
"They're not here," Ami Mizuno whispered in fear. "They're gone. I'm alone in here. It's so empty. So alone." Her eyes were crazed. "Why can't I hear them? Where are they? Alone. So alone"  
"Woah!" Sailor Moon shouted. "Ami!" She gripped her by the shoulders. "Ami! It's Usagi! Come towards my voice! Listen to me. Come towards my voice! Come on, I'm not done selling pictures of your ass. Come to me"  
"I can't, Usagi, I have to find them. I'm so alone." Her eyes turned inwards.  
"No!" Sailor Moon shouted. "No, damnit! We're friends! We have so much to do! Please!" She hugged the blue haired girl to her. "Stay here, Ami. Please, don't leave me. You're all I have left. Please"  
"I'm here too," Jupiter said as she hugged them both.  
"We can't stay here," Fury said, "we're-" He broke off as the three girls began to glow with a pure white light that seemed to come from within. "What in the name of Heaven"  
The Senshi glowed for perhaps thirty seconds and then it died away and Ami's hands hesitantly came up and encircled them in a hug. "Usagi?" Ami asked in a whisper. "Usagi, I heard your voice. There was this light"  
Sailor Moon pulled away and there were tears running down her cheeks. "You can't get away from me," she said, "even if you want to"  
"Usagi, he did something to me. Spiderwoman and Mercury, they're gone, I can't feel them in my mind"  
"Some kind of psionic transmitter," Troya mused. "Probably intended to erase the mind, but leave the victim alive"  
Sailor Moon looked at Jupiter. "Spiderwoman was dominant when they put on the costume," she said. "Mercury was usually in there somewhere as well"  
"You think they shielded Ami?" Jupiter asked.  
"Yeah, if unintentionally," Sailor Moon said and then her expression turned grim. "Naru has a big mouth. Nobody else but us knew that Ami had three different personalities"  
"Well then," Banner said, "why don't we go shut it for her"  
"Taking this awfully personally, aren't you, Banner?" Fury asked as they moved out again.  
"Mizuno's a good kid," Banner said with a shrug. "I can relate to her." Fury looked at him oddly and he grimaced. "Smartest kid in the class, few friends, voices in your head; yeah, I can relate"  
"Banner, what do you mean, 'voices in your head'? I thought Samson fused you with Fix-It and the Hulk to create one person"  
"He did, but there's still . . ." Banner struggled for the words. "It's like, they're echoes, if that makes any sense. My imagination taking their memories and using them to like . . . I dunno, I'm a nuclear physicist, not a shrink"  
Fury eyed him suspiciously, but let the matter drop.  
Ahead of them, Ami gave up trying to walk in heels and put the Spiderwoman costume back on. It was easier to walk in and it felt right.  
"Ami, you sure you need to wear that?" Jupiter asked.  
"It's easier to walk and move in," was the reply. "And . . . and call me Spiderwoman"

* * *

Stephen Strange sat crosslegged in midair. The portal mostly required his physical presence and a bit of attention to stay open, allowing him to focus on the pack of feral and near feral youma that had him surrounded.Several of their fellows lay dead on the ground and Strange calmly regarded their leader.  
"I am not your next meal," he informed the catlike creature calmly, "You are wasting lives and time"  
"Hungry!" the youma growled, beating on the ground with a large club. "Floating thing will"  
What Strange would do was never answered as a speedboat flew through the portal and landed on the youma, incinerating the entire pack in a fiery star of petroleum.  
Putting out the fire with a simple spell, Strange watched the man clad in a black tuxedo, having leapt out the boat just before the crash, run across the desert towards the palace. He was making very good time, Strange noted.  
Checking the portal and finding it stable for the next few minutes, he unleashed his astral form and sent it towards Fury.  
"Nick," he said as he arrived. "Someone new just arrived, I believe it's the one called Tuxedo . . ." he trailed off as he noticed the scene before him. "Ah. Bad time, I see. I'll call back later." He vanished.  
"I hate magic," Fury growled.

* * *

Two minutes ago . . .  
The attack killed two of the Wakandans and was meant for Spiderwoman.  
Moving fast enough to make the air whistle, the massive metal sphere with it's huge chain rocketed out of a side corridor, smashing aside the Wakandans and it was only Spiderwoman's unnatural reflexes that saved her, sending her leaping upwards and out of harm's way.  
Jupiter wasn't so lucky. As Spiderwoman moved, Jupiter spun to face the threat and took the impact full front, thrown backwards where she became embedded in the wall.  
"Hurk!" she gasped out, blood gushing from her mouth. A moment later, the ball and chain went back the way it came, Jupiter falling forward and hitting the floor. Stone embedded in her bare arms and legs.  
The Wakandan medic, Ubiu by name, crouched next to her as somebody approached.  
It was a man with dark skin, and clad in green and yellow. He carried the massive sphere and he was smiling unpleasantly.  
"Well," he said to Spiderwoman, who was crouched on the wall, "you have the devil's own luck, Miss"  
"And you are?" Fury demanded, gun out and aimed. The Wakandans followed suit and Troya was holding his spear in an attack stance.  
"Why you can call me Thunderball," the man replied. "Mayhem and general chaos to order is my trade, pleased to meetcha." He smiled, showing even white teeth and giving the impression of a gentleman, one of style and education. But underneath Thunderball's pleasant tone and well mannered speech, Fury saw thug. Thunderball had large hands with blunt fingers, broad shoulders and a powerful chest. His blue eyes were those of an intelligent man, but they were also cruel and greedy under his heavy brows.  
"Wait," Banner said, pushing past the Wakandans. "I know that voice. "Elliot Franklin"  
"You know him?" Fury demanded.  
"A year or so behind me and Reed," Banner replied. "Physics. Last I heard, he was being investigated for fraud along with some engineering genius named Ebersol"  
"Why Bruce Banner," Thunderball exclaimed in mock surprise, "as I live and breathe, here you are. Been a busy boy, I hear"  
"So have you," Banner shot back, arms crossed. "Where'd you get the ball and chain, Eli"  
"You'd best be calling me Elliot, if you've got any sense, Banner," Thunderball growled and then his expression brightened. "As for my Thunderball here, why it was the strangest thing. While in prison I met a man named Dirk Guthwaite and he told me the oddest tale. When I and two other fine fellows broke out, we investigated and Dirk was telling true. Not only that, he was kind enough to share"  
"Guthwaite . . ." Banner began, and then swore. "I ran into him as Mr. Fix-It a few times," he said to Fury. "He had this crowbar that gave him super-strength and near-invunerability. I'd heard he formed a gang, but as far as I knew, Code Blue in New York broke it up and they got stripped of their powers"  
"Indeed they did," Thunderball replied. "But as I sat there in the Vault, Beryl came to see me and made me an offer I just had to take her up on." He grinned at Banner. "That's a right fine invention of yours, Bruce," he said. "Gonna make a nice bomb with a few changes"  
"You can't beat all of us, Eli" Banner retorted, "Hell, you can't even beat me"  
"Well now, Bruce, that's a mighty interesting proposition there. Think I'll take you up on it." With that, Thunderball charged and swung his weapon, the massive sphere whistling through the air as it headed for Banner's side.  
Banner made no attempt to dodge; he merely put out his hand and the ball made a clanging noise as hit. But Banner didn't move. The blow should have at least made him stumble, or even twitch with impact, but instead he absorbed the entire energy of the impact and just stood there.  
"It's not a bell," Banner said quietly, "but we'll start the lesson anyway"  
With that, Dr. Bruce Banner gave Dr. Elliot Franklin a short and painful lesson in why the Incredible Hulk was the strongest there is.  
It took him a minute and fifteen seconds to beat Franklin into unconsciousness.  
"Did I hear Strange's voice?" he asked Fury as he threw Franklin and his Thunderball back down the hallway.  
"He wanted to tell us that someone was coming," Fury said. "Tuxedo something"  
"Tuxedo Kamen?" Sailor Moon asked and then swore. "That asshole is going to ruin everything." But her blue eyes were worried and she clutched Jupiter's hand.  
"How is she?" Banner asked.  
"Not good," Ubiu replied. "She's got a healing factor, but she's lost a lot of blood. She might not make it. She needs a transfusion and worse, she's Oh Negative"  
Banner felt a lurch in the pit of his stomach.  
"Don't you dare," Fury warned. "Don't even think it"  
"I'll handle it and I can't let her die. Besides, you can't stop me." Banner sat down and held out his arm. "I'm Oh Negavtive. Do it"  
Ubiu nodded and got out the kit.  
"Wait," Troya said. "Can she be moved"  
"I suppose," Ubiu said, "if we're careful"  
"I am familiar with this transfusion of blood," the youma said. "It sometimes takes time and we are vulnerable here. There is chamber not twenty feet away, a storage room. We will be more secure there"  
Ubiu nodded and one of the Wakandans set up a portable stretcher. Once Jupiter was on it, they carefully moved her to the storage room. Once inside, they secured the door and Fury began barking orders.  
"Set up the transfusion in the middle of the room. You two with the heavy weapons, you're on door duty. Spiderwoman, you're the early warning system. If you feel anything, call out. The rest of you, set up to cover the door"  
"No more than a pint should do it," Banner said to Ubiu as the medic swabbed his arm with an antiseptic. "We just need to give her healing factor a boost." Ubiu nodded and shoved in the needle before flipping on the pump.  
"It's red," Sailor Moon noted as she watched the blood flow through the tubes and into Jupiter. "I'd figured it would glow or something"  
Jupiter began moving and making noises of pleasure. Green flashes of light appeared over her wounds.  
"That's it," Banner said and jerked the needle out of his arm. "Kill the pump"  
Ubiu nodded and switched off the pump as the last of the blood disappeared into Jupiter's body. The noises became louder as Jupiter's wounds healed with astonishing speed and then her eyes snapped open.  
"AH!" The Senshi of Thunder sat up and everyone looked away. "What?" She looked down and realized that whatever support the Senshi costume offered, it had been destroyed by Thunderball. "Oh." With a blush, she covered herself.  
"I got this one," Sailor Moon said.

* * *

It took some work, but with a field blanket altered to become a binding wrap and a jacket for modesty, Sailor Jupiter was ready to go.Once more they moved out, but they were far more cautious, relying on Spiderwoman's danger sense to warn them of trouble.  
Even so, the castle was filled with traps designed to kill the unwary. False floors that hid deep pits, strange beasts that roamed the halls, and explosive shrapnel seemed to be a favorite.  
Troya was of some help, but many of the traps were a surprise to even him.  
"Beryl is crafty," Troya said they eased around a deep pit. Not only did huge spikes thrust upwards from the bottom, but they could see long objects moving around the spikes. Snakes, or something like them. Even if someone somehow managed to not be impaled on the spikes, those creatures would get them.  
"Beryl used to eat paste," Sailor Moon replied. "She's an idiot who needs a severe beating with a clue by four"  
"Sailor Moon is constitutionally incapable of admitting that Beryl has a brain," Jupiter said. "I think it's her religion"  
"I'm my own religion," Sailor Moon said loftily. "I'm the only one worthy enough to be worshipped by me"  
"So you're saying you're an atheist," Banner replied.  
"Oh hell no. If I came up with sex, it wouldn't be as funny"  
"Less banter, more moving," Fury growled.  
Sailor Moon ignored him, continuing to needle both Jupiter and Banner as they entered a large room. In the center, suspended over a seemingly bottomless pit by cables was a huge glass sphere. In the middle of the sphere was a metal ball, which glowed green.  
"What the hell is that?" Fury demanded. "Is that Beryl's gamma bomb? Banner"  
Banner, however, was staring at it, open mouthed and then he slapped his hand to his face. "Idiot! Bruce Banner, you damn idiot!" He grabbed his hair as though he would rip it out. "Moron"  
"Bruce?" Fury demanded but Banner didn't hear him. "Damnit," Fury muttered and then drew his pistol and shot Banner in the leg. "Got your attention, didn't it?" he said when Banner whirled to glare at him. "You'll heal. Now what is that thing"  
"Let me put it this way; Do you know the difference between a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb? One's a controlled reaction, the other isn't." He jabbed a massive green finger at the sphere. "That's not a bomb, Nick. Beryl was never building a gamma bomb, she was building a _gamma reactor._ Elliot let it slip, remember? He said my invention would make a nice bomb. He was talking about this"  
"But you said all the data was destroyed after that accident," Jupiter said.  
"For the bomb, yes," Banner replied, "but my original pitch was for a reactor, the government just wanted a weapon instead"  
"So you built one, but the plans for the reactor were still in a file cabinet somewhere, free for the taking," Sailor Moon finished. "Great"  
"Onslaught," Troya said.  
"Do I even want to know?" Fury asked.  
"There is little I can tell you," Troya said. "I have only heard rumors, whispers that Beryl was constructing something which required vast amounts of power, more than stealing energy from humans could supply. The youma working on it reffered to it as Onslaught. I know nothing more"  
"And so I built this." Surrounded by her generals, Beryl emerged from the shadows. She held a scepter topped with a crystal orb in one hand. "Doctor Franklin does such excellent work." She gave them a triumphant smile. "The reactor is fully operational, and my plans are nearly complete. There is, of course, nothing any of you can do"  
"Wanna bet?" Sailor Moon growled.  
"Of course not. That's why I recruited your dear cousin, the one person in Tokyo who knew you as well as you knew yourself. She can think like you, Usagi, and predict you"  
"Believe me, Beryl, nobody in Tokyo thinks like I do." Sailor Moon smirked. "Not even Naru"  
"As you say. Still, if you want to fight me in some futile and heroic battle for love and justice, I suppose I can oblige." Beryl's scepter became a sword. "Come along then, Usagi, I'd like to get on with taking your head sometime before dinner"  
"Really? I'm planning on having yours bronzed." With that, Sailor Moon charged, but no sooner had she gone three steps than Beryl gestured and Sailor Moon vanished. A moment later, so did Beryl.  
"Trap?" Banner asked.  
"Ambush," Fury replied as the generals spread out, youma teleporting in all around them.  
"Beryl was after wanting Sailor Moon," Thunderball said from behind them. "But we get your lot all to ourselves"  
With a soft cackle, the Goblin joined them.  
"Big and green is mine," Magnetite snapped and pointed at Banner. "I owe you a beating, pal. Time to pay up"  
"Come and get it," Banner replied.  
Fury keyed his com-link. "Danvers, what's your feeling about a game of Jungleball"  
"Always up for a game of Jungleball, Sir," was the reply. "Nerium"  
"Take 'em along. Collect the rest of the clan and we rendouvouz at the hanger bays"  
"Roger that"  
"What's Jungleball?" Jupiter asked.  
"Sheer, unfettered brutality," Banner replied, cracking his knuckles, "Screw Geneva, screw honor, and screw the U.N. It's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cute little way of saying that the gloves are off and absolutely anything goes"  
Jupiter smiled. "I like it"

* * *

Sailor Moon sat up. She was in a cone of light and surrounded by inky blackness. The last thing she remembered was charging Beryl in the reactor room.  
Out beyond the cone of light, Beryl's face appeared, fifty times larger than life.  
"Hello, Usagi," she purred. "Do you know where you are"  
"I'm guessing Hell," Sailor Moon retorted.  
"Your Hell, Usagi," Beryl replied. "One person's Hell is another's paradise"  
"So"  
"So it goes like this; feel free to stop me if I'm going to fast. If I tried to kill you, you would just be reborn in a few years and then I'd have to kill you again and again. As fun as that is, I have other things to do. So, I decided to imprison you instead. Your body is imprisoned in a virtual reality tube and your mind is here, inside the main computer. You're going to live for thousands of years, Usagi and your every nightmare, your every dark imagining will be brought to life. If you're not insane, you will be soon enough"  
Sailor Moon let out a derisive snort. "This is the best you got? A cheap Matrix rip off? You deserve every bad thing I ever said about you"  
Beryl smirked. "It suits your outfit. Even if your friends find your body, there's no way for them to free you. Goodbye, Usagi, I'll remember you fondly . . . every few centuries, perhaps." Then she vanished.  
"Bitch," Sailor Moon muttered. 


	14. Queen to Queen and Back Again

Carol Danvers clicked off her comlink and smiled coldly. She was a tall, athletic woman, with blond hair and the fine features of a model and soft curves under the midnight blue of her uniform. But she only looked soft. She was a ten year veteran of the Air Force, and five years with S.H.I.E.L.D. She was also a fully trained and blooded combat pilot and served as Fury's right hand man.

Now she stood up and began removing her uniform, revealing a midnight-blue, sleeveless,legless bodysuit with a yellow lighting bolt across the chest and a red sash for a belt. She also wore boots and gloves of midnight blue.

"Your pardon, war-leader," said a youma nearby. "But what is this Jungleball that your war-master speaks of? And what is the significance of this garb that you wear under your . . . armor?"

"Keitian, right?" Danvers asked. The youma nodded. "Well, Jungleball is a simple game. We go find the rest of your clan and then head for the hanger. Anything in our way gets killed or destroyed." She reconfigured her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform into a pack and slipped her arms through the straps. "As for the costume?" Her smile, if possible, was even colder. "Warbird wants to come out and play." She slipped on a domino mask and waved to one of the Lieutenants.

"The Colonel's going to be busy for a while," she said. "He thinks we might want to head out for a game of Jungleball and take Nerium with us."

The officer's answering smile was hungry.

* * *

With Usagi dealt with, Beryl returned to the birthing chamber and gazed upon her weapon. Twenty-five feet tall, red and black armor and next to it, constrained by a force field, a seething, writhing sphere of raw energy. This was her greatest creation, her child, really, since it was her DNA that had formed the baseline for it's matrix. 

"Your highness."

Beryl gazed at the man who had spoken. A tall, broadshouldered man with a short beard and a red diamond in his forehead. He was clad in black and his eyes, like his skin, were pure white.

"Sinister," she said shortly, giving him a brief nod. "Update me."

"Of course. The matrix is nearly complete, but the armor, as you can see, is finished."

"What do you mean, the matrix is nearly complete?"

"There have been problems retrieving the final sample. The host is too well protected. Any overt attempts will draw the attention of his parents and their two associates."

"As if I care about that." Beryl snorted. "There are only four of them. I have an army. It's simple numbers."

"Then you're an idiot," Sinister retorted. "Do not take them lightly."

Beryl frowned at him. "Are you scared of them, Sinister? This Fantastic Four?"

"Hardly. But nor am I a fool. If they are on to us, they will keep coming, and coming and coming until we are destroyed. Their DNA is unremarkable, but they have a curious ability to achieve the seemingly impossible. I may take samples some day for my files."

Beryl considered this. Sinister was no fool and he was as ruthless as they came. If he advised caution, she would doubtless do well to heed his advice. But on the other hand, time was running out. Onslaught had to be ready in time for the Conjunction.

Sinister regarded his employer thoughtfully through his peripheral vision. He was under no illusions about her. She was attractive, admirably ruthless and most troubling, dealt in dark magic.

Sinister hated magic. There were no rules, no laws to govern its operation, just spells and having to watch ones back for entities who could wipe you out of existance with a thought because you somehow offended them, or torture you for centuries, just because they could.

No thank you. Science was a much saner and safer realm and Sinister would take it any day. But when Beryl had approached him with this project, the idea had intrigued him, despite his misgivings about mixing in magic.  
Sinister suspected his curiousity would be the death of him. Someday.

Neither of them noticed the cartoon rabbit that appeared on a monitor screen, sniggered silently, and then vanished.

* * *

Moubou was the only surviving Wakandan and he was missing his right arm and left leg. He lay on the ground, thankfully unconscious as Fury and Jupiter tightened the tourniquets around the remains of his missing limbs. 

"Where's Magnetite?" Fury asked Banner as the scientist came back into the room.

"Opened some kind of portal," Banner replied. "How's Moubu?"

"Out cold and drugged up to keep him that way," Fury replied and patted Ubiu's pack. "Wakanda outfits its medics right."

"You have medic training, Fury?" Banner asked he took the Wakandan's pulse. It beat against his fingers, slower than he'd have liked, but steady.

Fury let out a snort. "Banner, I was a soldier since before Gavrilo Princip got involved in politics. You name it, I've done it." He stood up and stripped off the latex gloves. "He's stable, but only as long as Ubiu's little pack of wonders holds out"

Jupiter blinked at him. "Who"

"Princip was the Serbian assassin who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in nineteen fourteen," Banner replied. "The Austrians retaliated against Serbia, resulting in World War One"

Jupiter stared at Fury, mouth agape. She would have pegged Fury at fifty-five, maybe sixty. But if he'd been a soldier since before the war . . . "How old are you?" she asked him.

Fury grunted. "I quit counting years ago."

Jupiter decided not to think about that too much and instead pulled a blanket over Moubu. "So now what?"

"We should not linger," Troya said. The Youma's battle spear had been broken and the broad blade was red with blood. "War-Leader Danvers is doubtless waiting for us and we still must find the Clan-Chief."

"Good idea," Fury said. "Where's Spiderwoman?"

Jupiter jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Over there by the reactor."

Banner and Fury went over to the computer terminal. Mask off, Spiderwoman's fingers were dancing over the controls. On the screens, windows opened and closed as she manipulated data like a pianist giving a concert.

"We're rolling," Fury told her. "Unless you got something."

"I do," Spiderwoman replied. "Doctor Franklin spent a great deal of time here. He has a folder filled not only with notes, but plans for the reactor, both original, and how he modified it for better efficiency."

"What?" Banner leaned over her shoulder. "Lemme see."

"We don't have time for this," Fury growled.

"We do," Spiderwoman corrected. "Beryl's portal network is hooked into the reactor as well as Onslaught, but the files on Onslaught are encrypted, which is troubling."

"No kidding," Fury said. "Last thing we need is this Onslaught thing turning around and biting us all in the ass. We don't even know what it is."

"Not that," Spiderwoman said. She sat back in the chair, her the knuckle of her forefinger pressed to her lips. "Not what is encrypted, but _how_. The encryption algorithm on the files is by Tsukino Heavy Industries and it's not the commercial release. I suspect that it's their internal security version, which implies a connection"

"And a high level one at that," Fury said. "Can you get the hard drive out? We'll take it with us. It's enough for me to start poking at them"

"What about just copying the files to a flash drive?" Banner asked and removed one from his pocket.

"I have one of those," Spiderwoman said, taking hers out.

"Nice," Banner said. "Mine is two gigs. Yours?"

"One," Spiderwoman said, looking slightly embarassed.

"You have to be kidding me," Fury complained, crossing his arms. "You take a flash drive with you on a life or death mission?"

"Yeah?" Banner said. "And what do you take when you go grocery shopping?"

Fury glared at him. "Fine. Just make it snappy, will ya?" He stormed off, muttering to himself.

Spiderwoman compressed the files, enabling her to fill both Banner's flash drive, and her own.

"We're done," Banner called out, slipping both drives into his pocket.

"'Bout time," Fury called back.

However, Spiderwoman was still typing. Banner peered at the screens, she was . . . oh hell.

"Has to be done," she said. "With any luck, the explosion will take Onslaught with it and seal the youma in this dimension. Without the reactor to power the portals, they'll be stuck here. More to the point, the vibranium and the adamantium can't be allowed to stay in Beryl's hands."

"You do realize that even if they are the enemy, this amounts to genocide," Banner said.

"Yes," was the reply. "But it has to be done"

Banner pushed her aside and completed the sequence. "Better this way," he said, as she stared at him. "I've got plenty of guilt. What's genocide on top of that?" He pressed the enter key.

"I . . "

"You thought about it," Banner said, looking her in the eye. "Thinking about it is one thing, doing it is another. Remember that. You didn't do it." He held up a hand. "Don't thank me. It's not something I want to be thanked for or even remember. Let's just find Sailor Moon and get out of here. In fifteen minutes, the meltdown starts. Fifteen minutes after that, we all go boom"

Spiderwoman nodded and pulled on her mask.

* * *

Oddly,Beryl was unsurprised to enter her private chambers and find Sailor Moon seated in one of her chairs, a leg thrown casually over one of the arms. She was eating strawberries and a glass of wine was balanced on one knee. 

"Usagi," Beryl said crossing her arms. "Somehow I'm not surprised to see you here. Dare I ask how you escaped"

"You need to watch more science fiction, Berry," Sailor Moon replied, drinking from the glass and popping the last strawberry into her mouth.

"Do tell," Beryl replied, raising one eyebrow.

"It's simple, really. Don't you know that when you plug someone into full scale VR, they can seize control of the computer?"

"As I recall, only Neo could control the Matrix," Beryl replied. "And then only imperfectly"

"Neo?" Sailor Moon chortled, "Neo sucks baby donkey ass. Lawnmower Man, VR Five, the season four finale of Babylon Five. You know, the good stuff."

"I can't say that I do, but I believe I understand now. You took control of the computer and made it release the locks on your capsule from the inside"

"Not bad for a brainless bimbo, Berry," Sailor Moon said. "Now here's another one. Pay attention, it's tricky. What am I going to do to you? A hint; it involves hurting you. Badly."

Beryl summoned her scepter and transformed it into a sword. "I don't know who you were in the Silver Millennium, Usagi, but as Senator Beryl, I was a Grand Master with a sword, and as Beryl Masuto, I am a regional fencing champion. I doubt your skills are any similar."

Sailor Moon downed the last of the wine, tossed the glass aside, and picked up her own sword and the hammer-axe. "Maybe not, Berry, but I'm a pretty fast learner. You'd be surprised."

"All right then, Usagi," Beryl, taking her stance, "go on then. Surprise me"

Sailor Moon snickered and then her sword flashed out.

* * *

It was Spiderwoman who heard it first. A distant rumbling and the clash of metal on metal. Then, as they reached a cross section, they had to pull up short as Sailor Moon and Beryl shot through the middle, swords clanging and sparking. They stopped and watched, dumbfounded, as Sailor Moon and Beryl passed by, their blows sending each other flying, only to land on their feet and charge back in, leaping off the walls and sliding across the floor. 

Sailor Moon had her sword and the hammer-axe, Beryl was using a pair of sabers. As they watched, Sailor Moon launched a series of thrusts and then spun, slashing with her sword and then bringing down the axe in an overhand blow, which Beryl dodged.

"It's like Rurouni Kenshin on crack," Jupiter observed.

"When did Sailor Moon get so good?" Spiderwoman asked.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Beryl exclaimed as they moved out of sight down the hallway.

"Odd," was all Troya had to say.

"Odd doesn't even begin to describe her," Fury noted.

"No, not that, though it is apt. Khandir was an idiot, but he was very good with the hammer-axe. In fact, he often used it one handed"

"So?" Banner asked.

"She is using it exactly as he would have had he wielded a sword in his other hand"

"Cripes," Fury muttered, "there's two of 'em now." Banner shot him a look, but Fury's answering look said that he had no intention of explaining.

"Well," Jupiter said with a shrug, at least we found her, right"

Fury's com crackled to life. "Sir, we've won our game of Jungleball and are holding at the hanger. Nerium had some outs, but we're otherwise intact. Your status"

"We've lost all the Wakandans with the exception of Moubu," Fury replied, "And he's critical"

"Yes, sir. We've obtained the remainder of Nerium, mostly their females and children. The rest chose to cover the escape"

"Understood," Fury replied. "Be advised that that there will be a gamma reactor meltdown commencing in fifteen minutes. If we're not at your location in ten, take off. Advising S.H.I.E.L.D. Command is top priority. Copy?"

"Sir, I . . . yes, sir. I copy."

"Fury, out." The com clicked off and Fury looked at the others as Banner cleared his throat.

"Nick, you and Troya make the roundevouz with Danvers." He unslung Moubou from where he'd had been slung across his back in a makeshift sling. "The girls and I will go after Tsukino." He held the unconscious man out to Troya, who took him carefully.

"Now wait just a cotton pickin minute, Banner," Fury demanded, poking Banner in the chest with a finger. "What in the Sam Hill makes you think--"

"Mobou needs a hospital and you said it yourself that advising S.H.I.E.L.D. command is top priority," Banner said, cutting Fury off. "The rest of us are expendable." He handed Fury the two flash drives. "Tony and Reed should be able to make sense out of these"

Fury made a noise in his throat and took the drives. "Move it, Banner. I got enough funerals to go to as it is." He and Troya took off in one direction and Banner, Jupiter, and Spiderwoman ran after Beryl and Sailor Moon.

Fourteen minutes and counting.

* * *

Panic. 

Beryl was feeling panic. She shouldn't be. After all, there was no way Sailor Moon could beat her, champion of the Moon Kingdom or no.

But she was. Beryl had found herself unexpectedly on the defensive and Usagi was improving with every parry, thrust, and stroke.  
"You're a mutant, aren't you?" Beryl accused as she tried to get out of the reach of Sailor Moon's blades.

"I don't know," Sailor Moon replied tilting her head, blue eyes glittering mockingly. "Am I?" She grinned. "I suppose that means I'm cheating. But then you know all about that, don't you?"

"Don't you dare make this about that, Usagi!" Beryl shouted. "I did nothing wrong!"

"I was twelve, Beryl. Twelve years old"

"You're still mad about that"

Sailor Moon only cackled and then leapt at Beryl, the impact driving her back and Sailor Moon riding the momentum as they both tumbled through a glass window, plunging downwards, swords ringing and clashing before they both landed in a large room, filled with columns arranged in around a center space.

Sailor Moon disengaged and then ran for the clearing, Beryl close behind.

Then the lights went out.

A moment later, a single cone of light came down over Beryl and Sailor Moon's voice came out of the darkness.  
"Do you know what the primary problem of Japan is? Besides the shitty economy and gajin fanboys, I mean."

'Now what?' Beryl wondered as she looked around, waiting for a sneak attack. What was she up to? "Don't know? The answer is everything. Everything is wrong with it. From the government to the air qaulity. It's all wrong, every last stinking bit of it."

"And you have a solution?"

"Of course I do. I'm going to blow it up. There's no problem that can't be solved if you got a big enough bomb, you know. But first, since you've outlived your usefulness, you gotta die. Shall I tell you my grand scheme? Just so you can finally see that I'm the smarter one before you die?"

For a moment, Beryl froze and then she laughed. "Sorry, Usagi," she sneered, "but I know you had a nervous breakdown when Naru betrayed you. The sociopath routine won't work on me."

The lights came back on and Sailor Moon was standing not five feet away. "Oh well," the blonde said with a sigh. "It was worth a shot." She shrugged philosophically. "I am going to kill you though"

"I already told you, Usagi, the sociopath routine doesn't work"

"Who's being a sociopath?" Sailor Moon replied, "I'm crazy, remember?" She gave Beryl a thoughtful look. "Aliens"

"What?"  
"Hm? Oh, you've been possessed by aliens, so I had to kill you. Good of the Human Race and all that." She pursed her lips in thought. "The Melanons, they're called. Oversized cockroaches. Burrow into your brain and take it over." She might as well have been choosing wallpaper. Her tone was so matter of fact that Beryl lowered her swords in astonishment and Sailor Moon struck, leaping in and knocking both blades out of Beryl's hands.

Beryl sank to her knees in defeat and stared up at Sailor Moon. "Who are you?" she asked in a whisper.

Sailor Moon smiled down at her. "There can be only one"

The blade whistled as it came in and struck Beryl's head from her shoulders, sending it flying.

"I've always wanted to say that," Sailor Moon said and walked out of the room whistling cheerfully.

Beryl watched her go and waited for the light to fade. She was dead, after all.

Wasn't she?

"I warned you," Metallia's voice echoed in her mind. "I warned you of the price of defeat"

As Beryl watched, her body began to extrude tentacles from the hole where her neck had been as her neck began to do the same.

And then Beryl realized. She realized that Mettalia had been manipulating her mind, shielding it from the horrors she'd committed. But now, the shield was gone and Beryl was confronted by the full scope of her crimes.

She screamed, she screamed as she understood everything, including what she had given herself too. What she had become.

She screamed until Mettalia obliterated her mind and arose in her body.

She threw back her head and roared a challenge to her foe.

It came back from down the hallway.

"Aw, shaddup!"


	15. Doomsday, Destiny and Decisions

She was whistling when they found her. One hand in her pocket, the other holding the hammer-axe as it rest on her shoulder, Sailor Moon strolled down the hallway, cheerful as could be.

"Sailor Moon!" Jupiter shouted as she, Spiderwoman and Banner skidded to a stop. "Are you okay? Where's Beryl?"

Sailor Moon shrugged. "Turns out I was right all along. We had an argument and she just completely lost her head. Poor dear." Jupiter and Banner exchanged worried looks and Sailor Moon glared at them. "What? It worked for The Queen of Hearts."

"The Queen of Hearts was a megalomaniacal narcissist," Banner pointed out.

"So?"

"I give up," Banner sighed.

At that moment, from back down the hall came a roar.

"Aw Shaddup!" Sailor Moon yelled back. She turned back to her friends, a thoughtful look on her face. "I probably shouldn't have done that."

"Ya think?" Jupiter demanded.

"Excuse me," Spiderwoman broke in. "But we have only eleven minutes before the meltdown begins and nine before Colonel Fury leaves."

"Aw, can't we stay?" Sailor Moon said, pouting. "I want to be irradiated. Deformed mutants get more chicks."

"Will you shut up and come on?" Banner snapped as he broke into a run.

"Not without dinner first," Sailor Moon called back as she ran after him. "And on what? I don't do kinky stuff, you know!"

* * *

They made it to the hanger with three minutes to spare and immediately took cover as a hail of weapons fire forced them behind a stack of crates and equipment. 

"Clan Chief," Troya said by way of greeting.

"We're pinned down," Fury said to Banner. "The transport craft over there is perfect for a getaway, but there's about fifty or so hostiles with heavy weapons between us and the door"

"Hey," Sailor Moon said, pointing at Mobou. "Check it out. Full Metal Wakandan!"

"Oh for the love of Pete," Jupiter muttered and slapped the back of Sailor Moon's head.

"Repeat was better looking," Sailor Moon retorted.

"Ideas, people," demanded Fury.

"Who are these guys anyway?" Sailor Moon asked, peeking over the edge.

"Clan Marduk," Troya said. "They were the first clan Beryl subverted and thus they are the most loyal."

Sailor Moon bowed her head in thought and then looked at Fury. "Get ready to shoot," she said, and then raised her voice. "Hey you putrid paltroons!" she shouted. "Your mother never liked Beryl to begin with and she sleeps with humans!" Howls of rage were heard. "Also, Beryl's dead! I, Sailor Moon, cut off her head and left her bleeding on the floor. She was a crappy warrior and you all suck baby monkey dong for following her!"

The howls grew louder and the youma stood up, bellowing insults and roaring their fury.

"Fire!" Fury yelled and the guns of S.H.I.E.L.D. barked, the bullets and energy beams cutting the youma down like a scythe through wheat.

"We have to hurry!" Spiderwoman yelled. "The meltdown will begin in two minutes!"

"MOVE!" Fury ordered. Like a great wave, they charged across the hanger and Banner wrenched open the door, boosting the younger Youma into the doorway before climbing in himself and pulling the door shut by main strength alone as the three Senshi raced to the cockpit.

As he pulled the locking wheel into place he saw Spiderwoman take the flight engineers seat while Moon and Jupiter claimed the controls. The blonde reached up and began flipping switches and the door to the cockpit hissed closed. Banner figured that was probably for the best as the cabin shuddered with the sounds of the engines powering up and the loudspeaker crackled to life with Sailor Moon's voice.

"Good Afternoon, Ladies and Youma, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard Moon Airlines Flight Last Ditch Attempt to save our lives. Pasengers who wish to continue on to Earth should disembark once this piece of shit is down and take the portal. We'll be cruising just high enough not to hit anything as we attempt to outrun gamma radiation, a pissed off demigod, and the return of corduroy bell bottoms. This is a nonstop flight and no smoking will be permitted. Please insure that your seats are in their full and upright position, your tray tables have been stowed, and that your asses have been properly kissed goodbye. In the event of an emergency, we're all fucked. Thank you for choosing Moon Airlines and enjoy your flight."

The intercom did not shut off and everyone in the cabin heard Jupiter's worried question. "Sailor Moon, do you even know how to fly this thing?"

"Nope!" Sailor Moon replied cheerfully, "but it's a little late to be worrying about trivial details, don't you think? Oh, hey! The intercom is still on"

"Oh, God," Jupiter groaned as the intercom clicked off.

"Master Troya," one of the younglings said, "Are we going to die?"

"I certainly hope not, child," Troya replied, "but if we are to die, we will die free."

The engines roared and they were pressed into their seats as the transport leapt from its pad into the skies.

* * *

Metallia stepped into the throne room. Hers. As it should be. Recruiting a human had been a mistake from the beginning, though, and one she would not make again. It was then that the singing began.

_I see a little silhouette of a bitch  
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, she is such a filthy skitch  
Fighting for a baka is a dumb idea to meGalileo, Galileo,  
Mettalia es muy estœpido  
But what do I know, I am just a hero  
I am just a hero, what do I know!  
Spare me this life of cunts won't you please!_

Metallia spun around and stared at the hologram of Sailor Moon seated crosslegged in mid-air. The girl must have found the com system on the transport she and her friends stole.

No, Metallia realized a moment later, it was a digital clone. Sailor Moon had left behind a copy of herself IN the main computer!

"You know," the clone opined, "Beryl always did look best in green."

"Green? What are you talking about, fool?"

"Gamma Reactor Meltdown will commence in ten seconds," chimed the voice of the computer.

"That," replied the clone, pointing upwards.

"What? Damn you to the deepest hells, Sailor Moon!"

"Aw, I love you too."

"Five Seconds until Meltdown," chimed the computer. "Portal network shut down. Please use the remaining moments to make peace with the Gods. Unless you're Metallia. In which case, no one gives a shit about your sorry ass."

"Buh-Bye!" the clone called out as the alarms wailed. She blew Metallia a kiss and waved goodbye before she vanished.

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" Metallia screamed. "Not like this! I will not permit it!"

"You don't have a choice," replied the computer. "Meltdown commencing with detonation to follow. I'm looking forward to Silicon Heaven. You won't be there."

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen had returned several minutes later, mostly to ask if Strange had seen Sailor Moon. 

Strange had instead invited him to sit down and they'd begun to talk. It turned out that Kamen's real name was Mamoru Chiba and he was pre-med. That had inspired Strange to relate some tales from his school days.

Within an hour, they were talking shop and Strange occasionally telling a story.

" . . . So there's Bruce, blushing up a storm and he can't even look at Betty, so he just stares at the mug. Reed is sitting there, trying to figure out Tony's comment, and Charles and I are just sitting there. That's when Tony leaps up onto the couch arm. 'Tonight is men's night,' he says. 'Tonight, it being the beginning of Bruce Banner's 21st Birthday, we, his friends, frat buddies, and possible future test subjects, are to escort him on his required journey of beer, boneheadedness and debauchery as benefits a man of his age.'  
Then he jumps to the floor and sighs. 'Unfortunately, I'm the only bonehead here, so we'll go for pizza instead."

Mamoru laughed and then frowned. "But Tony Stark is famous and very rich. How can--" Mamoru broke off as they heard the sound of engines and then a transport craft barreled out of the sky and crashed into the depot building, demolishing it completely. Both men rose to their feet, Mamoru re-donning his mask and hat and then moving to stand at Strange's side.

As the smoke and dust began to clear, they heard voices raised in argument and then Sailor Moon strode out out of the cloud, Banner and Fury at her heels.

"Well it's not like I had time to land!" Sailor Moon was shouting at Banner and then she saw them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She barked at Tuxedo Kamen, stepping up to him and jabbing a finger at his chest.

Tuxedo Kamen stared at her, groping for the words. "I . . . I was called here."

"Called? Well next time let the machine get it." Sailor Moon turned away from him and watched as Jupiter, Spiderwoman, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and the youma staggered from the wreck. Surprisingly, none of them were hurt.

"Oh, dear." The two words, however soft, cut through the air like a knife. Everyone turned to look at Strange, who was staring at the distant castle.

"Stephen?" Banner asked.

"The reactor has detonated," Strange said as he pointed and they could all see a bright green light rushing towards them.

"The portal!" Banner yelled.

"No time!" Fury yelled back.

Just as the light was about to reach them, it suddenly withdrew, sucked back into the castle.

"The hell?" Sailor Moon and Jupiter said in unison.

"Shit," Strange swore, for once without his customary many syablled oaths, his orange-gloved hands clenching into fists.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Sailor Moon asked no one in particular.

A giant form reared up out of the castle, and they heard a distant roar.

"Metallia has absorbed the power of the Gamma Explosion," Strange said.

"Yup, don't like it," Sailor Moon confirmed.

"It's worse than that," Strange said, turning to face them. "Metallia's powers have grown. She can open a portal to earth on her own now. But I suspect she'll come after Sailor Moon first. She is the key to the Silver Crystal and the Moon Princess"

"Did I say don't like?" Sailor Moon asked. "Hate. I meant hate."

"Can't you do something?" Fury asked.

"Possibly, but not here. I have to return to Earth, but once there, sealing this dimension off will take a few minutes, and I can't craft the seal and keep Metallia contained here at the same time."

"Then we'll stay here and keep her contained," Spiderwoman said. "The rest of you go through the portal. Metallia is our enemy, not yours."

"Precisely," Sailor Moon said. "Excellent, in fact. Thank you, Spiderwoman." She and Jupiter grabbed Spiderwoman's arms and pushed Spiderwoman at Banner, who reflexively grabbed her. "But you have to be going now."

"What?" Spiderwoman demanded and then fell limp as Tuxedo Kamen's cane cracked her smartly over the head.

"Sailor Moon?" Strange asked.

She shrugged. "She deserves better than this. Keep an eye on her, Banty-chan, won't you?"

"Two eyes," Banner promised as he lifted Spiderwoman to his shoulders.

"Troya," Sailor Moon barked and the elderly youma stepped forward. Sailor Moon handed him the hammer-axe, raising her voice. "I have to leave you for a while, my clan. Until I return, I name Troya my regent. His words and decisions shall be as mine, and his will shall be as mine."

"I will prove worthy," Troya said and took the weapon.

"You too, Tux-boy," Sailor Moon said. "Move it or lose it."

"No," Tuxedo Kamen replied. "I cannot explain it, but I know that it is a mistake to leave you alone"

"I get that a lot," Sailor Moon said with a straight face. "Fine, your funeral"

In the distance, Mettallia's giant form was approaching.

"Let's move it, people," Danvers shouted and the group began to stream through the portal.

Strange was the last. "I think we will meet again, Sailor Moon. Until then." The portal closed behind him with a soft pop.

"So," Sailor Moon said as Metalia loomed over them. "Anyone know a good knock knock joke?"

* * *

Somewhere in Central Africa . . . 

Thunderball followed the Green Goblin down the steps and into a large chamber. At the far end, a massive figure was seated and he rose at Thunderball's approach. He was clad in blue armor with cables at that ran from his back to his forearms. His belt was fastened with a buckle in the shape of an A and his face was sharp and angular, a lipless mouth surrounded by blue lines that stretched off the corners to outline his cheeks. His eyes were pure white and as far as Thunderball could tell, he had no hair.

"Welcome Elliot Franklin," the figure said. "I am En Sabah Nur, but you may call me Apocalypse. I have summoned you here to be my Horseman of the Apocalypse, the one known as War. You will sweep across the world, unleashing death and destruction at my command."

"Will I now?" Thunderball mused. "Well, that is sounding like a mighty tasty carrot there, Mister Apocalypse, and make no mistake, but I'm after wonderin how much it pays."

"Do not trifle with me," Apocalypse thundered, "I can control you like a puppet. One way or another, you will serve me."

"No doubt that you could," Thunderball agreed, "but the problem with puppets, I'm thinking, is that the man working the strings is so busy with the strings, he loses sight of why he got the puppet in the first place. Now when you pay a man, he's after earning his fee by doing what he's told and doesn't need to be asking for directions all the time."

Apocalypse stared at him and Thunderball calmly stared back. Then, the lipless mouth quirked in an almost smile and Apocalypse sat back down as a servant approached, carrying a large box. Stopping in front of Thunderball, the servant opened it to reveal a fortune in gold coins and precious gems. "I trust that this is a suitable retainer?" Apocalypse asked.

Thunderball reached out and took a handful of coins, letting them trickle through his fingers. Then he smiled up at Apocalypse. "And just where would you like me to be beginning with the death and destruction?" he asked.

Apocalypse's expression wasn't a smile, nothing that horrible could be.

* * *

Egypt . . . 

"Let the fist of Konshu strike at the heart of all evildoers!"

"This? See this? This is _your_ fault."

"Me? He's a God! What was I supposed to do? Tell Him no?"

"Yes!"

* * *

New York City . . . 

"Welcome, Naru Okasa"

Magnetite stared. One moment, she'd been in Hong Kong, the next, she was here in what looked like a chinese temple.

"Who?"

"Brought you here? That would be me." Magnetite spun to face the speaker. It was a man, seated crosslegged on a small dias. His dark hair was grayed at the temples, and he was regarding her calmly. At his side, a woman leaned on him in the same way a lover leaned on her man. She was clad only in a bikini, and orange and black fur covered her body. Even her face was catlike, with a light dusting of fur and her hair was a brilliant reddish-orange.

"Don't look like much," the tiger woman opined. "You sure she's the one?"

"Quite," the man replied and rose.

"Wait, I know you!" Magnetite said, "you were on the ship. Beryl called you the Sorcerer Supreme." She let out a contemptuous snort. "Supremely bad dresser, maybe."

"I did not bring you here to comment on my wardrobe, Naru," Strange replied. "I have brought you here for redemption. Beryl took your feelings and twisted them."

"And what?" You're going to untwist them?" Magnetite crossed her arms. She knew how it went. Now came the speech about love, justice and all sorts of touchy feeley garbage.

"No"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"You are quite right to feel the way you do about Usagi. She did ride roughshod over others, she was arrogant, and she was occasionally incapable of grasping how she affected others. If anything, Beryl did you a favor by bringing those feelings to the surface where you are aware of them."

"Wait, why are you speaking of her in the past tense?"

"She's dead, it seems. Stayed behind to buy time while I sealed the Dark Kingdom off."

Magnetite stared in shock and then she laughed. "A hero's death. Figures. Fuck. I wanted to kill her."

"And then what? Suppose you did kill her. Then what?"

Magnetite opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Finally she managed to speak. "But you brought me here to redeem me."

"I did"

"Buh?"

"You are a brilliant, capable, young woman, Naru. Beryl gave you great power, but now you lack direction. I can give you that, show you a new path. You will be my apprentice"

"Go to Hell!" Magnetite snarled.

"Perhaps for our first field trip, if you're ready," he replied calmly. "Shall we begin?"

"Fuck you!" Magnetite snapped in pulled in power for a teleport. "Damn if I'm gonna stay here." Nothing happened. "The hell?"

"The matter is not up for debate, Naru. You _will_ be my apprentice."

Naru stared at him and in her stomach, she felt the first flutterings of fear.

Strange smiled at her, but his voice was as cold as ice. "Let the lesson begin."

* * *

Tokyo . . .

Ami poked morosely at her food and then looked at Luna. "Nothing?"

"Not a thing," Luna confirmed. "They remember being friends with each other, and you, but anything about being a Senshi or you being Spiderwoman . . . is gone"

"But how could they be alive? They stayed behind in the Dark Kingdom. It was sealed!"

"I don't know, Ami." The black cat sighed. "It was a mistake to go after Beryl with only three Senshi. We needed all of them."

From below, somebody shouted and Ami peered through the fence to see M.J. running through the courtyard, carrying a box in one arm. He returned the shouts with a wave and ran into the building.

"There's another problem, Ami," Luna said. "Since Usagi and Flash showed up today. No one remembers them having ever been gone. Two weeks worth of memories from every student and teacher and everyone else has been wiped clean and replaced. Only you, I, and M.J. remember otherwise."

"But what has that kind of power?" Ami asked, "and for that matter, why would they do it?"

Luna made a face. "The list of those notables with power and possible motivation is very short and none of them I trust to have done it out of altrusim."

The rooftop door opened and there was M.J. For a man who'd just run up five flights of stairs (given the time between when he'd entered the building and opened the door, he must have run), he was barely breathing hard and Ami felt a stab of heat start somewhere private and spread outwards.

His stamina, as near as she could tell, nearly matched her own and she sometimes found herself wondering about ways she could tire him out. Beds were often involved in those speculations and while she was quick to squash those thoughts as they occurred, the imagery stayed with her, worrying at the back of her mind.

She'd given up denying the fact that she was drawn to him like steel to an electromagnet, but refused to act on it.

"Hey," he said, not even winded.

"M.J.," Luna said.

"Luna," he replied and sat on the ground. Luna repeated what she'd told Ami and he listened thoughtfully. "It seems our next step is to find the other three Senshi," he said at last. I'd bet that Usagi and Flash still have their powers, but they, and their memories, have been suppressed. Odds are, they'll get them back when the time is right. In the meantime, Ami is still a Senshi, and there's three or four more out there." He ticked them off on his fingers. "Mercury Venus, Mars and Earth. Unless Ami is one of those?"

"Ami is Mercury," Luna said and then bared her teeth. "And how do you know all this anyway?"

M.J. shrugged. "Before the festival, I was in my room my aunt's house. I have a perfect view of Ami's room with my curtains open and I saw Spiderwoman enter through the window. Then the light went on and Ami closed it. When I knew that, everything fell into place. The news named Sailor Moon and Jupiter, and that suggested that there were others. Magical Girls, at least in fiction, usually never have more than six, so it made sense that if there were others, and given Sailor Moon, they probably were inner system named." He shrugged. "How close am I?"

Ami stared. Brains, stamina, and looks. She would never refer to herself as shallow, but outright drooling seemed rather attractive at the moment. However, she gave her brain a stern mental shake and set down the Mercury Pen in front of Luna.

"Take this," she said. "I'm not worthy of it."

"But--" Luna protested and Ami shook her head. "Are you sure about this?" M.J. put in, "it seems like you're giving up an awful lot."

Ami looked down at her hands. "Spiderwoman may not have been me, but she came from me and she killed. There is a stain of blood that must be wiped clean." It all sounded terribly melodramatic, but it was the only words Ami could think of to describe her feelings. "I cannot be Sailor Mercury until I balance the scales. Please, Luna. To be Sailor Mercury, I must first be Spiderwoman."

Luna stared at her for a moment, and then she reached out and pulled the pen towards her where it vanished from sight. "When you are ready," she acknowledged.

"Oh!" M.J. said. "This was delivered to our house by mistake. It's addressed to you." He handed her a box. "Can't tell who it's from. Looks like America."

Ami set aside her lunch and tore apart the brown paper. Lifting up the lid, she studied the red and blue fabric within and lifted it out, a piece of paper fluttering to the ground. The fabric was a tunic. Red and blue, with webbing bonded to the spandex and from the looks of things, made to be skintight. Further investigation revealed a mask, gloves, pants, and boots, all of similar construction. There was also a CD-R, a belt and some sort of wrist devices.

"A spider costume?" Luna gasped. "But who would send you such a thing?"

"Probably whoever wrote this note," M.J. said. "'I no longer need these,'" he read aloud, "'but you might. Use them well.' There's no signature and it's a printout." He made noise of annoyance. "Looks like a laser printer too. No clues here." He dropped the note back into the box.

For a moment, Ami stared at the costume and then she folded it back up and put it back in the box along with the wrapping paper. "Luna, can you get this back to my room without being seen and put it where Aunt Mai can't find it?"

"Surely you're not thinking of keeping this?" Luna gasped. "You don't even know who it's from!"

"I know, Luna, and I swear I'll get to the bottom of it, but I can't, not now." As though to support this, the bell rang.

Luna nodded, there was a flicker of movement, and then she and the box vanished.

"M.J., Makoto . . ." Ami said as she stood. "I . . "

"I know. I was hoping now that the whole . . . you know was finished, we could . . . I like you, Ami. I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever known."

"Don't!" Ami almost sobbed. "Don't . . . don't say that." She looked at him. "I am . . . attracted to you. Fiercely. But I can't. I just can't. Please understand."

"Can I promise to wait?"

And because Ami knew he would, she spun on the balls of her feet and punched him in the gut. "No," she said, tears in her eyes. "Never speak to me again." She touched his chin and lifted it up and stared into those green eyes. Then, because she couldn't help herself, she leaned forward and kissed him, savoring the spark of pleasure. "Please," she whispered. "It's best for both of us."

Then she was gone.

* * *

End of Act 1. There will be a brief intermission. 


End file.
